EPIX looks to avoid bankruptcy

EPIX Pharmaceuticals Inc. is taking action to avoid bankruptcy.

Lexington-base EPIX Pharmaceuticals said it has commenced an exchange offer for all of its $100 million aggregate principal amount of 3 percent convertible senior notes due 2024. EPIX added that it is offering to exchange the notes for shares of common stock and a cash payment.

"If EPIX is unable to restructure its obligations under the notes, it may be forced to seek protection under the United States bankruptcy laws," the company said in a press release. To read that press release please click here.

In a separate press release, EPIX said it has sold the US, Canadian, and Australian rights for a contrast agent designed to provide improved imaging of the vascular system to Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc. of Billerica for aggregate gross cash proceeds of $28 million.

EPIX said it "will continue to own European and other non-U.S. rights (other than in Canada and Australia) for the imaging agent enabling it to pursue further monetization of these rights."

EPIX is selling some of the rights to MS-325, which was formerly marketed in the European Union, Canada, and Switzerland as Vasovist by Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany.

MS-325 is an injectable intravascular contrast agent designed to provide improved imaging of the vascular system through magnetic resonance angiography imaging. Under the trade name Vasovist, MS-325 has been approved for marketing in the United States and 37 other countries.

To read the press release about the sale of some rights to MS-325, please click here.

In a press release of its own, Lantheus said, "The acquisition of MS-325 further builds on Lantheus' diagnostic imaging product portfolio and expands the company's presence to the radiology market."

To read that press release, please click here.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)