Nature Biotechnology 17, 217 - 218 (1999)
doi:10.1038/6954

Synergen lineage may finally pay off
Joseph Alper
Joseph Alper is a freelance writer working in Louisville, CO.



Third time lucky or three strikes and out? That's the $7.2 million venture capital question for the 35 former Amgen employees and six venture capital groups investing in Array BioPharma (Boulder, CO). Array is a start-up offering expertise in medicinal chemistry and high-throughput screening on a fee-for-service basis to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. With one deal announced last month, two more pending, and venture capitalists, analysts, and even competitors commending the company's experienced management team and business model, Array BioPharma is in a better position to succeed than either of its corporate ancestors, Synergen and Amgen-Boulder.

Array BioPharma was born last July, a weekend after Amgen gave up trying to find a partner for its Boulder-based R&D operation and pulled the plug on what had once been the biopharmaceutical company Synergen. Amgen bought Synergen after its interleukin-1 antagonist, Antril, failed clinical trials in July 1994 and the company was forced to hold a fire sale of its facilities, intellectual property, and net operating losses. In fact, Array BioPharma is housed in Synergen's first building, although Amgen declined to invest in the new company and is merely acting as its landlord.

Array's three working cofounders, Kevin Koch, Anthony Piscopio, and David Snitman (all former employees of Amgen at Boulder; a fourth cofounder, K.C. Nicolauo, is chair of the chemistry department at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA), believe they are on a better path to success than their corporate ancestor Synergen because the idea behind the company stems from the more than 160 years of combined big pharma company experience of the company's employees, who come mostly from Pfizer, Glaxo, and Upjohn. "Successful new businesses most often come when industry insiders see an unfilled niche and start a business to fill it," says Koch, Array's president and chief scientific officer. "In our case, that niche is medicinal chemistry applied to the synthesis of new monomers and their rapid optimization through combinatorial chemistry into drug candidates."

Array intends to generate income in the short term in two ways. First, its medicinal chemistry group, largely hired by and then inherited from Amgen to create small molecules for Synergen-derived targets, is designing and creating a catalog of chemicals for sale. These unique, proprietary chemical monomers—the so-called pharmacophores that serve as the starting point for any small-molecule drug discovery and optimization effort—are available to all comers in quantities ranging from tens to hundreds of grams. The second part of the business offers a fee-and-milestone-for lead discovery and optimization service. In this respect, Array is really selling its strength in medicinal chemistry and high-throughput screening.

Koch claims that Array will be profitable in 1999. Already, the company has shipped $200,000 worth of its chemical building blocks for drug discovery to pharmaceutical companies that include Glaxo, Pfizer, and Zeneca, and has another $300,000 in orders in place. And last month, the company inked three deals calling for it to use its novel pharmacophores to optimize leads for specific, undisclosed targets: Icos (Bothell, WA) will pay $2.4 million over two years for work on four targets; and two additional partners (undisclosed as Nature Biotechnology was going to press) will pay Array for similar work. Although all three deals incorporate milestones, there are no provisions for future royalties—something that Array is promoting as its standard deal structure.

However, the company is likely to face many competitors. Kyle Lefkoff, chairman of Array's lead venture backer, Boulder Ventures, points out that firms such as Oxford Asymmetry (Abingdon, UK) and Discovery Partners (La Jolla, CA) are offering the same services of generating novel pharmacophores and improving them through combinatorial chemistry (Nat. Biotechnol. 16, 1302, 1998). Lefkoff also suspects that combinatorial chemistry shops such as Pharmacopeia (Princeton, NJ) and ArQule (Medford, MA) will move away from merely providing libraries of compounds toward more value-added services such as lead optimization. In addition, NeXstar's forthcoming spinoff, Iterex, headed by former Synergen founder, Larry Gold, will also be creating novel chemical building blocks and elaborating them using its evolutionary chemistry technology. "This is going to be a crowded field, so Array is going to have to move fast to establish itself as the leader in this field," says Lefkoff.

What persuaded his company to invest in Array, says Lefkoff, was its stellar science team and great operation. "You tour the facility, which Kevin [Koch] designed, and you know that you're not getting into bed with your typical start-up."

But it's not only Array's venture backers that are positive about the company; even the competition is impressed: "What they have is a talented group of medicinal chemists with a great deal of pharmaceutical industry experience," explains Bruce Eaton, vice president for chemistry at Boulder neighbor NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, a potential competitor with its own small-molecule creation group. "I think they will have a nice, sustainable business within two years," he adds.

Several people acknowledge the growing demand for the type of service model that array offers: a group of medicinal chemists with the expertise to create new building blocks, offer lead optimization, and perform high-throughput screening—all in a one-stop shop offering a deal structure that avoids royalty stacking. Lefkoff thinks that a biotechnology company with an interesting target will benefit from the opportunity to rent the best at a cost-effective price, and that big pharma will be attracted to the growing catalogue of building blocks that can be bought with no strings attached.

Robert Swift, analyst at Bigelow & Co. (Denver, CO), agrees that Array's business strategy makes sense. "Combinatorial chemistry is getting to be a commodity business," says Swift, explaining that every large pharmaceutical company has basically built its own combinatorial chemistry groups making libraries for internal use. Where there is still a need, particularly for the biotechnology companies, he says, is in the value-added area: special building blocks, combined synthesis, and screening capabilities. "We'll have to see how they execute this model."

Array BioPharma Receives $14 Million From Longmont Facilities Transaction
BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Array BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) today announced that it has received $14 million upon completion of previously announced facilities transactions involving Array, its Longmont landlord and BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR), a real estate investment trust, under which Array assigned its right to purchase the Longmont facility to BioMed. On August 9, 2006, BioMed concluded the purchase of the Longmont facility and Array entered into a lease for the facility with BioMed through 2016. Array previously received $18 million through completing a similar transaction with BioMed for its Boulder facility in July 2006. In total, Array received $32 million in net additional cash from these transactions.

Array will keep its headquarters in Boulder and continue operating its 228,000 square foot research facilities in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado.

About Array BioPharma:

Array BioPharma Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted small molecule drugs to treat life threatening and debilitating diseases. Our proprietary drug development pipeline is focused on the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disease and includes clinical candidates that are designed to regulate therapeutically important targets. In addition, leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies partner with Array to discover and develop drug candidates across a broad range of therapeutic areas. For more information on Array, please go to www.arraybiopharma.com.

About BioMed Realty Trust:

BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on Providing Real Estate to the Life Science Industry. Additional information is available at www.biomedrealty.com.

SOURCE Array BioPharma Inc.
08/10/2006

CONTACT: Tricia Haugeto of Array BioPharma Inc.,
+1-303-386-1193,
thaugeto@arraybiopharma.com

Web site: http://www.arraybiopharma.com

http:/ www.biomedrealty.com

(ARRY BMR)

Array BioPharma Inc. Files Shelf Registration Statement

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 2006--

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) today announced that it has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The shelf registration statement, when declared effective by the SEC, will allow the company to raise up to $150 million through the sale of securities, which may consist of common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares and/or warrants, in one or more offerings in the future. Specific terms and prices will be determined at the time of any offering and included in a prospectus supplement to be filed with the SEC relating to that offering.

A registration statement relating to the securities listed in the shelf registration has been filed with the SEC, but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy such securities be accepted, prior to the time that the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. Any offer of these securities will be made solely by means of the prospectus included in the registration statement and the prospectus supplement relating to that offering.

A written prospectus, when available, meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, may be obtained from the company at 3200 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado 80301, Attention: Investor Relations, or by calling 303-381-6600.

About Array BioPharma:

Array BioPharma Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted small molecule drugs to treat life threatening and debilitating diseases. Our proprietary drug development pipeline is focused on the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disease and includes clinical candidates that are designed to regulate therapeutically important targets. In addition, leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies collaborate with Array to discover and develop drug candidates across a broad range of therapeutic areas. For more information on Array, please go to www.arraybiopharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statement:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the sale of securities under the shelf registration statement. Such statements are only predictions. Actual results could differ materially from these statements and the company may be unable to complete any sale of securities under the shelf registration statement due to a number of factors. These factors include unfavorable market conditions and other risk factors that are more fully discussed in the company's periodic reports and other filings with the SEC.

CONTACT: Array BioPharma Inc.
Tricia Haugeto, 303-386-1193
thaugeto@arraybiopharma.com

SOURCE: Array BioPharma Inc.

Tena,

Attempts to trace back to the origin of GDNF within Synergen have been made, mostly to see if anywhere along the line the NIH had been involved in funding any of the research. That would make it qualify for what is called "marching in" rights, because it was in part federally funded. No luck at this point.

Some of the things you do find out along the way only open your eyes a bit more tho, at how vulnerable we are and how arrogant some companies can be.

Ceregene seems to be making a true effort to be as transparent as possible and not make unrealistic claims. They openly acknowledge that the GDNF was a lesson for everyone and comments off the record indicate that they originally would have used GDNF.

Paula