Ossianix was started in 2011 by Frank S. Walsh and Corey S. Goodman, both senior executives from Wyeth and Pfizer Inc. It's trying to develop new biologics based on shark antibodies.
Last summer, Ossianix attracted a research grant from the ALS Association of Washington, D.C., and pre-seed investment of $65,000 from Philadelphia-based BioAdvance's Greenhouse Fund. Call it the opening chapter for this company.
The end of Tengion Inc.'s Philadelphia story isn't uplifting at all. The regenerative-medicine company made it official last week when it announced the completion of its headquarters relocation from East Norriton to Winston-Salem, N.C.
One of the only companies in this region to go public in 2010, Tengion has spent much of the last two years in restructuring mode, cutting jobs.
In a move eerily similar to one made by Novavax Inc. a few years ago, Tengion chose to consolidate closer to where much of its research is being done at Wake Forest University. Vaccine-maker Novavax dumped its Malvern business offices in January 2007 to be near its Rockville, Md., labs.
Then there's Cardiokine Inc., which I last wrote about in November 2010. At the time, Center City-based Cardiokine had just lost its strategic partner for the development of a treatment for hyponatremia, a dangerously low level of sodium in the body. Often, losing a partner is a death knell for a small drug developer.
Cardiokine executives expressed confidence as they talked about the future. In dissolving that partnership, Biogen Idec Inc. returned all rights to lixivaptan to Cardiokine, which hoped to file a New Drug Application with the Food and Drug Administration in mid-2011.
In fact, Cardiokine did file an NDA, but on Dec. 29. The next day, the small company was acquired by the Cary, N.C., specialty pharmaceutical company Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc., which generated $125 million in sales in 2010.
The transaction is short on up-front cash but long on potential payments to Cardiokine's private shareholders. In a world where nothing bad ever happens, Cornerstone would pay out more than $159 million (of which Pfizer apparently is promised $20 million in connection with some licensing rights). However, El Dorado is far removed from the harsh realities experienced by most involved in drug development.
As we see with Ossianix, new doors in life sciences may open for the ex-Cardiokiners. Will they be attached to offices and labs in the Philadelphia region?
Contact columnist Mike Armstrong at 215-854-2980 or marmstrong@phillynews.com,
or @PhillyInc on Twitter.
Read his blog, "PhillyInc,"
at www.phillyinc.biz.
