Soligenix Inc., formerly known as DOR BioPharma Inc., a late-stage biotechnology company, today announced it has formed a consortium to develop technology to enhance acting vaccines, including RiVax, the company’s proprietary vaccine for ricin toxin, which can be used as a biological weapon. Soligenix also announced it was awarded a $9.4 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to continue this work.

The announced consortium draws together industry and academic researchers from various disciplines, including the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas, and the Tulane National Primate Research Center, SRI International, Health Research Inc, Battelle Memorial Institute, Nanotherapeutics, and BioCon Inc.

“Each of our academic and industry consortium members brings impressive expertise to our vaccine stabilization program,” Dr. Robert N. Brey, PhD, chief scientific officer of Soligenix stated in the press release. “This association has the potential

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This morning Trans Union, the big credit bureau, released its quarterly report on mortgage delinquencies, and it was not pretty. Nationwide, 6.25% of all residential mortgages were at least 60 days past due in the third quarter, up from 5.81% in the second quarter and 3.96% a year ago. This was the 11th straight quarter that delinquencies increased. Mortgage delinquencies are the first step in a house eventually going into foreclosure, so look for those to start heading up again. Foreclosures have been held down by trial modifications under the HEMP program, but very few of those have gotten to the stage of being final modifications. And even when mortgages are modified, there is a strong tendency for those people to again find themselves in financial trouble. Clearly people not paying on their mortgages is not good news for the big banks like Bank of America (BAC) ...

Treaty Energy Corp. acquires, develops and produces oil and natural gas, seeking out leases with proven, but undeveloped reserves. The company yesterday announced an agreement to acquire 54 oil and gas leases and their respective production equipment in Kansas.

The leases span 6,700 acres and include 662 “stripper wells,” oil wells that produce 10 barrels per day or less for 12 consecutive months. According to the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), stripper wells make up about 84 percent of domestic oil wells, contributing to more than 20 percent of all domestic oil. Treaty said the acquired stripper wells in Kansas run an average of 900 feet in depth, making them more economical than comparable wells in other areas.

Of the 662 wells, 450 are currently producing, generating about 115BBLS per day. The company said additional wells have been drilled and will soon be in full-swing production, boosting production

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Early this morning, Coventry Health Care Inc. (CVH) announced that it has agreed to acquire Preferred Health Systems, Inc. (commonly referred to as PHS), the wholly-owned health insurance subsidiary of Via Christi Health System, Inc.  PHS is based in Wichita, Kansas. It is a commercial health plan whose beneficiaries include more than 100,000 members for whom it assumes full insurance risk, and 20,000 members for whom PHS provides administrative services. The acquisition of PHS will further widen the customer base of the diversified national managed healthcare company in the Midwestern United States.  The transaction, expected to close in the next 90 to 120 days, will not affect Coventry ’s earnings in the first year.  PHS was incorporated in 1993 following strong support and encouragement from area physicians, St. Francis Regional Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center , which merged to form Via Christi Health ...

Late last week, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) closed the previously announced acquisition of natural gas treating business from Dallas-based Crosstex Energy LP (XTEX) and its general partner Crosstex Energy Inc. (XTXI) for approximately $266 million.  As part of the transaction, Kinder Morgan purchased approximately 290 amine-treating and dew-point control plants from natural gas company Crosstex. These plants are primarily located in Texas and Louisiana , with additional facilities in Mississippi , Oklahoma , Arkansas and Kansas.  Kinder Morgan will use these natural gas treatment plants in servicing its Texas Intrastate customers and to other producers in various supply basins, including the fast growing shale plays. Following the deal, Kinder Morgan has become the largest provider of contracted natural gas treating services in the country.  The Crosstex asset acquisition will allow the partnership to expand its natural gas business through the inclusion ...

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) has revealed details about its master labor contract, ratified by members of the United Steel Workers (USW) union on Sep 18. The master contract covered about 10,300 employees at seven tire plants in the U.S. The plants are in Akron, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Danville, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina.; Gadsden, Alabama; Topeka, Kansas; and Union City, Tennessee.  The master contract is expected provide Goodyear with cost savings of $215 million over its term. Combined with savings realized through pre-bargain agreements to reduce staffing levels at five plants, the company expects to realize $555 million in total savings over the term of the agreements.  The contract also allows Goodyear to invest $600 million over the term of the agreement in its USW facilities to make them more efficient and productive. Additionally, it provides continued job security for six of the ...

Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has declined to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors (GM), despite nearing the end of the deal. The spokesperson of the Michigan-based second leading automotive retailer in the U.S. has explained that Penske was unable to find a manufacturer to make the Saturn models when GM stops producing them after 2011. In June, Penske had reached a tentative agreement with GM to purchase the brand. Under the deal, GM had agreed to manufacture three Saturn models beyond 2011, but afterwards Penske was supposed to manufacture the products made by a third-party manufacturer. Speculation was rife that Penske was discussing the production of Saturn with French automaker Renault or a Chinese automaker to produce Saturn but the company spokesperson has not confirmed either. As Penske failed to reach an agreement with third party manufacturers for Saturn, it had no option but to ...

Cimarex Energy Co. (...

Dollar’s rally is cut short…Major problems for loans still exist…Yen rallies on exporter repatriation…Kiwi gets whacked! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! It’s still raining here in St. Louis this morning, but I won’t that get me down, as it is a Friday! G-20 has gotten a bit ugly, folks… Seems everyone just can’t seem to get along! Imagine that! 20 different countries, and now they want to be able to watch another country’s finances and comment on them! Oh, I can see that working out real well! NOT!

So… Yesterday, we had the dollar gaining back the ground that it had lost the previous day, but at the end of the day, we’re looking very much like the currencies hadn’t moved from morning to morning… And overnight, didn’t bring about much movement… So… When you get to the currency round-up below, you’ll

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bReason for comment/bbrbr On 10 September 2009, the company provided details of four new Manufacturer’s Representatives added to its sales organization, some operational detail and further information on its financing intentions. pThe new territories with representatives in parentheses are: Washington DC, Virginia (Energy Advanced); Southern New York State (Accardi Companies); Connecticut (Analytics Combustion Services); and Kansas, Iowa and Missouri (Hughes Machinery Equipment). pManagement notes that the rep training programme has been enhanced and that the three day programme in August with Canromex, its new Mexican rep, was a success. pSofame also disclosed that it had “approved a private placement of equity securities up to C$2m Canadian Dollars to accredited investors resident in Canada and elsewhere”. This is in addition to the debt financing agreement with Township Capital previously announced for a like C$2m. pThe press release goes on to state that Sofame is involved in discussions with several potential lenders ...