SiliconBeat

Affymax, the Palo Alto biopharmaceutical, saw its shares rise $2.71, or 22 percent, to $14.91 in regular trading Thursday after Credit Suisse and its affiliates disclosed holding a 13.9 percent stake in the company, for which it paid $10 million.

After the closing bell, the company reported a net loss Read the rest of this entry »

Affymax, the Palo Alto biopharmaceutical whose shares lost more than half their value in 2008, disclosed bonuses its board approved for its top officers last week, along with raises in their salary and new options grants.

Chief Executive Arlene Morris was awarded a cash bonus of $281,170 for the year, which represented 55 percent of her salary last year, along with an option to buy 80,000 shares with an exercise price of $10.99, the closing price on Jan. 15 when they were granted. She was also given a 3 percent raise in her annual salary, which now stands at $526,555.

The biggest raise on a percentage basis was given to the company’s chief medical officer, Anne-Marie Duliege, whose pay was raised 5 percent to $363,300. She was also given a bonus of $136,238, which represented 39 percent of her salary.

However, Duliege, along with Robert Venteicher, the company’s senior vice president of technical operations, were awarded a one-time bonus back in May equal to a third of their respective salaries at the time, payable upon the acceptance of the filing of the company’s new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration for its treatment for anemia associated with chronic renal failure.

Affymax, which became a public company in 2006, has wracked up $272.5 million in accumulated loss during its time, burning through nearly $49 million in its 2008 third quarter alone.

It still had $110.7 million in cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30, down 34 percent from the same time the year before.