Vertex Raising Money -- Again!: BioBuzz

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (TheStreet) -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX) is addicted to two things -- spending money and raising the same. Tonight, it's trying to do the latter.

Vertex announced a follow-on stock offering of 10 million shares with a 1.5 million-share shoe. If Vertex sells the entire deal at today's closing price of $39.49, the financing grosses the company more than $450 million. [I've heard the deal is done but I don't have confirmation of that yet.]

Clearly, Vertex is taking advantage of its strong stock to pad the corporate piggy bank. The company's stock price has surged in the past month -- boosted by investor confidence in its experimental hepatitis C drug telaprevir -- and has been trading near or at its two-year high of around $40. The cost to existing Vertex shareholders is more dilution, of course.

FDA Approves Two New Drugs

(At 7:30 AM EST)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TheStreet) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two drugs Tuesday night -- a prescription drug for a rare, genetic disorder and an over-the-counter treatment for heartburn.

The FDA also rejected Hemispherx BioPharma's(HEB) drug for chronic fatigue syndrome. (Read about Ampligen's setback here.)

Dyax(DYAX) received full approval to market Kalbitor for the treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angiodema (HAE), a rare genetic disorder that causes severe and painful swelling in various parts of the body.

As a condition of the FDA approval, Dyax is required to set up a risk management program to warn patients that Kalbitor can cause severe allergic reactions.

Kalbitor is the second drug approved to treat HAE attacks. In October, CSL Behring's drug Berinert also received the FDA 's blessing, although approval was limited to patients who suffer HAE attacks in the abdomen and face. Viropharma(VPHM) also markets a drug to prevent HAE attacks from occurring.