Maxygen Moves To Liquidate Itself

Maxygen, a California-based protein pharmaceuticals firm, plans to cease operations. If shareholders approve the plan, Maxygen will divide about $68 million, or $2.45 per share, among them. Since December 2009, the company has distributed about $320 million in cash and property to shareholders after selling a recombinant Factor VIIa agent to Bayer HealthCare and its holdings in the spin-off businesses Perseid Therapeutics and Codexis. Maxygen has struggled to advance its last product candidate, MAXY-G34, a PEGylated granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor for treating chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and acute radiation syndrome.