Wednesday, November 19, 2008

NitroMed to merge with Archemix

By Mass High Tech Staff

NitroMed Inc., a Lexington drug developer, and Archemix Corp., a Cambridge biotech firm, have announced plans to merge the two companies in an stock-swap transaction.

The deal calls for NitroMed to offer new common stock shares to former Archemix shareholders who make up 70 percent of the newly merged company’s shareholders. The new company will be located at Archemix’s Cambridge office and will be called Archemix Corp. The merger awaits both Archemix and NitroMed stockholder approval and the closing of Nitromed’s sale of its BiDil drug business to JHP Pharmaceuticals LLC.

Assuming stockholder approval, the newly merged company will consist of the following management team: Kenneth M. Bate as president and CEO; Duncan Higgons as executive vice president, business operations; Gregg Beloff as vice president and chief financial officer; Page Bouchard as senior vice president, research and preclinical development; and James Gilbert as senior vice president and chief medical officer.

The board of directors, following close of the merger, will consist of five current Archemix board members and three current NitroMed board members. The Archemix board members include Peter Barrett, Alex Barkas, Errol De Souza, John Maraganore and Michael Ross. The NitrMed board members include Kenneth Bate, Mark Leschly and Davey Scoon.

NitroMed develops BiDil, a heart failure pill designed specifically for African-American patients, which it made plans to sell to JHP Pharmaceuticals last month for a possible $26.3 million. In January, Lexington-based NitroMed laid off most of its staff and suspended marketing efforts for BiDil.

Archemix develops aptamer technology — short nucleic acid sequences that strongly and specifically bind to protein targets and can be designed to function for a specified period of time.