Sale of Some CellPro Assets OKd by Court

A bankruptcy court has approved the sale of certain assets of CellPro Inc., which filed for bankruptcy after losing a patent infringement lawsuit, to an Irvine subsidiary of Delaware-based VIMRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., the VIMRx unit announced Monday.

VIMRx’s Nexell Therapeutics unit--owned 80% by its Delaware parent and 20% by Baxter Healthcare Corp.--previously agreed to acquire such CellPro assets as intellectual property, patents, research and licenses for $3 million in VIMRx stock.

CellPro, which made blood-filtering and cell-testing equipment, said in September that it would cease operations, fire 93 employees and sell assets to Nexell in settling the lawsuit. The Seattle-area company also agreed to pay $15.6 million to Baxter, Johns Hopkins University and Becton Dickinson & Co.

Nexell also sells blood-filtering devices.