Drug Companies Update April 2007
Mergers, acquisitions & Joint Ventures
- AstraZeneca has acquired antiviral company Arrow Therapeutics.
- San Francisco-based Athenagen will now be known as CoMentis.
- Biogen Idec has acquired the biopharmaceutical company Syntonix, which remains as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
- Commonwealth Biotechnologies has acquired specialist peptide company Mimotopes.
- Eli Lilly has acquired neuroscience-based drug discovery company Hypnion.
- German pharmaceutical company Evotec has acquired Neuro3d.
- Japanese company Inter Cyto Nano Science has changed its name to Interprotein.
- NovaCal Pharmaceuticals, investigating drugs for the treatment of hospital infections, has changed its name to NovaBay Pharmaceuticals.
- Anticancer biotech company Psiron has changed its name to Viralytics.
- Rx3 Pharmaceuticals has changed its name to Trius Therapeutics.
- Switch Pharma has acquired Gardant Pharmaceuticals.
New Companies
- Acorus Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company concerned with the development of essential medicines that fulfil unmet medical needs.
- ActoGeniX is developing novel therapeutics for diseases with unmet medical needs via its microbe-based TopAct oral drug delivery technology.
- American Life Science Pharmaceuticals is focused on developing new small molecule neuroprotease inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
- Angioblast Systems is engaged in developing and commercializing platform technology using stem cells for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
- AriaVax is producing conformationally-constrained peptide vaccines for a variety of indications, using its Deadlock technology.
- Ariston Pharmaceuticals is focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of therapeutics in the neurological area.
- Scottish-based Aquapharm Bio-Discovery discovers and develops anti-infectives derived from marine microbes.
- BioVeris focuses on the development of novel synthetic and semi-synthetic vaccines using conjugate carbohydrate techniques.
- China-based C & O Pharmaceutical Technology markets and sells 3rd party pharmaceuticals, as well as manufacturing, marketing and selling its own products.
- Calistoga Pharmaceuticals is a development stage pharmaceutical company focused on novel therapeutics for oncology and inflammation.
- Cannasat Therapeutics is a Canadian company developing novel cannabinoid pharmaceutical products.
- Ception Therapeutics is discovers and develops novel products for the treatment of inflammatory, infectious and vascular diseases.
- CFD Therapeutics is a spin-off of diaDexus, and focuses on the development of novel therapeutic monoclonal antibodies directed against proprietary solid tumour targets.
- Italian-based Cosmo Pharmaceuticals aims to become a global leader in the market of optimized therapies for selected gastrointestinal diseases.
- French-based CLL Pharma develops drugs utilising innovative galenical formulations.
- Crawford Healthcare is a speciality pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology.
- Desitin Arzneimittel develops novel treatments for epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
- Dexcel Pharma Technologies is developing therapeutic products based around its proprietary controlled-release oral solid form drug delivery technologies.
- Diurnal is a bioFusion portfolio company seeking to develop means for controlled- and sustained-release formulations of steroid products.
- Privately-owned company ElSohly Laboratories specialises in naturally-derived therapeutics.
- Biopharmaceutical company Endotis Pharma operates in the field of therapeutic glyomics and is investigating the use of oligosaccharide-based drugs in the fields of oncology and thrombosis.
- Based in South Korea, HanAll Pharmaceutical is focused on the research and development of cardiovascular and antidiabetic drugs.
- Harkness Pharmaceuticals is a privately-owned biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for obesity.
- Ivrea Pharmaceuticals is using its topical drug delivery technology to develop treatments for dematological diseases.
- Privately-owned KineMed is using its proprietary technology to discover new and unanticipated uses for drugs.
- Kuros Biosurgery was established in 2002 as a spin-out from Kuros Therapeutics, and focuses on the development of novel, injectable materials for localized therapy.
- LFB Biotechnologies is developing plasma-derived medicinal products for the treatment of rare clotting disorders.
- Melior is a US-based company that uses its theraTRACE discovery platform to identify new uses for small-molecule therapeutics.
- Microbial Novoteqs is developing protease inhibitors for the treatment of infectious diseases.
- NanoMed Pharmaceuticals is developing therapies and diagnostics for cancer derived from its nanoparticle manufacturing technology.
- NasVax is focused on the development and commercialization of novel vaccine adjuvants and delivery systems.
- Italian-based NeED Pharma develops novel antiinfective drugs for the treatment of serious and neglected infectious diseases.
- Privately-owned NeuroSolutions' current pipeline is focused on the treatment of pain.
- NoNO is a biotechnology company investigating therapeutic compounds for the treatment of stroke and other CNS diseases..
- California-based biotechnology company Novelix produces small molecules as therapeutics for treatmentresistant cancer.
- Novaflux Technologies develops and commercializes medical devices and pharmaceutical products. It is investigating compounds as potential HIV microbicides.
- Novagenetics is a Canadian-based company developing a novel erythropoietin protein.
- Oasmia Pharmaceutical is a Swedish company developing more efficient cancer treatments with fewer side-effects than current therapies.
- OncoVista was established in 2004, and is developing novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
- Ophthalmopharma is a Swiss company, developing products for dry eye syndrome, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.
- Pathologica is developing a polyamide biosynthesis inhibitor for the treatment of neuroAIDS.
- Phoqus is developing drug delivery systems based on its proprietary electrostatic dry powder deposition technology.
- Potentia Pharmaceuticals is developing novel therapeutics for chronic inflammatory diseases.
- QuoNova is developing its Quorum Sensing Blocker technology to tackle bacterial resistance development and toxicity, for use in multiple markets.
- Selexys Pharmaceuticals is focused on developing therapeutic products for the treatment of inflammatory disease.
- Chinese-based company Sinobiomed develops genetically-engineered recombinant protein drugs and vaccines.
- Spider Biotech discovers and develops therapeutic multimeric peptides and peptidomimetics to treat bacterial infections and related life-threatening conditions.
- Privately-owned Stemline Therapeutics is a clinical stage company that develops oncological compounds targeting cancer stem cells.
- StormBio in-licenses and develops innovative therapies including cytokine-modulating drugs for the treatment of life-threatening influenza.
- Switch Pharma develops and commercializes known drugs for new therapeutic areas, using chemical modification and/or drug delivery.
- Taiwan Liposome Company is engaged in the development and commercialization of its proprietary drug delivery system for improving the treatment of cancer, ophthalmic conditions and infectious diseases.
- TheraCarb is striving to produce therapeutics for diseases for which there are currently no effective treatment options.
- Privately-owned company Tragara Pharmaceuticals develops proprietary drugs for the treatment of cancer and inflammation-related diseases.
- US company TransOral Pharmaceuticals derives new patient benefits from proven CNS drugs.
- VentiRx Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the development of novel medicines for the treatment of cancer, infectious, respiratory and autoimmune diseases.
- Via Pharmaceuticals is a drug development company focused on compounds that target inflammation in the blood vessel wall, for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
