Omeros to buy Nura in cash/stock deal

Two privately held Seattle-based biotechs--Omeros and Nura--are combining in a cash/stock buyout. Omeros' acquisition will add Nura's work in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. Omeros' lead product is being developed to improve joint function. The three investors in Nura--Arch, Aravis and Novartis--are making an unspecified but "large" investment in Omeros. That money is part of a $53 million venture round that Omeros says it will announce soon. Omeros' CEO Gregory Demopulos has also been discussing his intentions to take the 12-year-old biotech public next year--market conditions permitting.

- see the report on the buyout from the Seattle Post Intelligencer