Bankrupt Biopure Corp. received court approval for an Aug. 20 asset sale, according to court and securities documents filed in recent days.
Potential bidders have until Aug. 13 to submit offers for the Cambridge-based blood substitute maker, which sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 17. The sealed bids will be opened Aug. 18, with the court expected to give its final approval to the deal two days later.
OPK Biotech LLC, a Delaware-registered entity, entered a $2.6 million “stalking horse” bid for virtually all of Biopure’s assets. Kathleen Rahbany, an associate with the Boston law firm handling the bankruptcy case for the company, told MassDevice she could not disclose whether there have been addition bids for the company. The Craig & Macauley attorney also declined to provide additional details about OPK Biotech.
According to the proposed purchase agreement, OPK Biotech will secure all of Biopure’s intellectual property, including the patents for its flagship product, Hemopure, a blood-like fluid capable of carrying oxygen through the body. Biopure also produces Oxyglobin, an artificial blood used in veterinary practices.
In all, Biopure listed $5.076 million in assets and $2.729 million in liabilities at the time of its bankruptcy petition.
The company also will be in court two weeks from today, Aug. 10, seeking permission to retain and pay Newbury, Piret Companies Inc. as its strategic advisor through the bankruptcy process and to exclude certain compensation information from the official court record.
