Getting My Blogging Legs Back

Lots of activity as the year wound up and transitioned into 2007. Quickly…

Array BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) filed an IND application for ARRY-520 a protein inhibitor used to treat tumors and leukemias. Array plans to begin the Phase I clinical trial at three academic medical centers in the United States. Array brought five compounds to the clinic through 2006. Needless to say...what an impressive achievement.

• The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center accounted for a record $374M in research grants for fiscal 2006, a 3% increase over 2005. The combined University of Colorado system brought $640M for the year. The Health Sciences Center received the most grants for the year (1,799 and $350M), followed by the downtown campus (185 and $24M).

• Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) completed the acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNAI) after Sirna shareholders approved the deal on 28 December. Merck announced in October that it was buying Sirna for $1.1B, in hopes of bolstering their siRNA pipline with Sirna’s rich technology portfolio. From what I am hearing on the street the Boulder facility may remain in Boulder.

• AspenBio Pharma, Inc. (OTCBB: APNB) has filed an Investigational New Animal Drug Application with the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. for approval of StayBred™, a veterinary drug designed to help dairy cows maintain pregnancy.

• Bolder BioTechnology, Inc. (Boulder) announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted it two patents, 7,148,333 and 7,153,943. The patents are for products related to GM-CSF, a human protein that stimulates bone marrow cells differentiate into mature white blood cells. Recombinant GM-CSF products are used to treat neutropenia and reduce the incidence of severe infections in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, to accelerate bone marrow recovery in cancer patients receiving bone marrow transplants and to increase numbers of peripheral blood progenitor cells for transplantation.