Elan raising $500 million in senior notes

Ireland's Elan Corp has announced that its wholly-owned US subsidiary,Athena Neurosciences Finance, is to offer approximately $500 million worth of subordinated senior notes.The notes, to be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Elan, are part of $2.5 billion of debt securities that Elan and Athena filed to sell from time to time. The net proceeds from the offering of the senior notes are expected to be used for general corporate purposes, the company said.

....sets up JV with NewBiotics

Meantime, Elan is establishing a joint venture with San Diego, USA-based NewBiotics to develop and commercialize the latter's lead drug, NB1011, a potential treatment for patients with colorectal cancer who have not responded well to standard chemotherapy. As part of the deal, Elan has made an undisclosed equity investment in NewBiotics, in exchange for commercialization rights to the drug in the USA, Canada and Europe. In addition, the joint venture will receive certain rights to utilize Elan's NanoCrystal technology.