Movers: ECYT Gets Big Money from Merck; VRNG Has Mark Cuban as Biggest Investor

Tomahawk, WI 4/16/2012 (StreetBeat) -- Endocyte (ECYT) was up more than 100 percent on heavy volume.

Merck & Co. (MRK) has agreed to pay $120 million upfront to Endocyte Inc., with additional payouts of up to $880 million, to develop and market the experimental cancer drug vintafolide as the drug maker looks to bring more drugs to market.

Vintafolide is being evaluated in a Phase 3 clinical trial for ovarian cancer and a Phase 2 trial for non-small cell lung cancer.

Vringo (VRNG) was up 31 percent on heavy volume

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has taken a major stake in a small video-ringtone maker with annual revenue of less than $1 million, a disclosure that comes a day after he made an investment in another applications maker.

The 7.4% stake in Vringo Inc. makes Cuban the company’s largest shareholder, according to data from FactSet Research. Hedge fund Iroquois Capital LP has the second-biggest stake in Vringo at 6.4%.

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