Shares of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. jumped nearly 5 percent Tuesday after the company announced a marketing agreement with Bayer Consumer Care AG. The Calabasas developmental drug company has worked for years on ATX-101, a treatment to dissolve fat under the chin. Under the agreement, Kythera will have the right to commercial ATX-101 outside of the U.S. and Canada. In exchange, Bayer will receive $33 million in Kythera stock and a $51 million promissory note due March 2024. In 2010, Kythera licensed the commercial rights for ATX-101 outside of the U.S. and Canada to Bayer. With the deal announced Monday after market close, Kythera now has global rights to the drug, Chief Executive Keith Leonard said. Shares of Kythera closed Tuesday up $2.11 or 4.7 percent to $46.64 in trading on the Nasdaq. USEI Cannabis Initiatives Corp. announced Tuesday the acquisition of a publicly traded wireless products and services company. Terms of the deal between USEI Cannabis, in Santa Clarita, and Hotcloud Mobile Inc., in Dallas, were not disclosed. USEI Cannabis is a subsidiary of U.S. Energy Initiatives Corporation Inc., also in Santa Clarita. USEI Cannabis, which provides products and services to the marijuana industry, will change the name of Hotcloud and merge new business into the company, said Anthony Miller, chief executive for USEI Cannabis. Additionally, Hotcloud will be moved from the OTC Bulletin Board to the OTCQB, which will require the company to register with and report to federal regulators, he added. The company is also targeting other acquisition targets and strategic alliances in Colorado where recreational use of marijuana became legal this year, Miller said. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will change its name and invest about $20 million to update its North Hollywood headquarters, according to media reports Tuesday. The organization is launching a $40 million fundraising drive for the headquarters construction and its endowment fund, the Los Angeles Times reported. Its new name will be Television Academy. The 68-year-old organization has about 18,000 members in the TV and related industries, and puts on the annual Emmys awards show.
