South San Francisco-based Cell Genesys Inc., the developer of an immune-system booster tested against prostate cancer, lost three- fourths of its value in Nasdaq trading after reporting that more people died on combination therapy that included the drug.

The shares sank $2.01, or 72 percent, to 79 cents.

In a study of 408 patients with advanced prostate cancer, 67 died who were taking Cell Genesys' GVAX along with Taxotere, another cancer medicine. That compared with 47 who died on Taxotere alone, the company said.

Cell Genesys had expected to enroll 1,200 people to study whether GVAX can help prostate-cancer patients live longer. People already enrolled in the study will stop taking GVAX and no one else will be asked to participate, the biotechnology company said. The reason more people died taking the GVAX combination isn't known, the statement said. Cell Genesys has no products for sale and had an accumulated deficit of $491 million at the end of 2007, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sherwin said the company had $166 million in cash as of June 30, according to Wednesday's statement.

Software

San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of networking equipment, agreed to buy PostPath Inc. of Mountain View for $215 million, adding e-mail and calendar software to challenge Microsoft Corp. PostPath's programs compete with Microsoft's Exchange, which runs e-mail and organizing systems for corporations. The software will be combined with Cisco's WebEx video-conferencing product, acquired last year for $2.63 billion, the company said today. Cisco and Microsoft are battling for customers that want to curb travel expenses by substituting Web conferences for face- to- face meetings.

Databases

IBM's Corp.'s database sales advanced at a slower pace than those of Redwood City-based Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. last year as companies relied less on mainframe computers, researcher Gartner Inc. said. Database sales at IBM, the world's largest computer- services provider, advanced 10 percent to $3.53 billion, compared with 14.9 percent growth at Oracle and 16.5 percent at Microsoft, Gartner said.

Banking

Bank of Communications Ltd., China's fourth-largest publicly traded bank, plans to establish a branch in San Francisco as it expands overseas. The bank, with about 2,600 outlets in China, also has branches in New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Frankfurt.

Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or dvoros@bayareanewsgroup.com.

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