BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

MoliChem: Taking to the airways

October 27, 1997 8:00 AM UTC

With the merger of Glaxo plc and Burroughs Wellcome plc in 1995, Luis Molina, founder, president and CEO of MoliChem Medicines Inc., found himself in an opportune position. Glaxo offered to assign him Wellcome's Duramycin - an aerosol compound with potential in cystic fibrosis (CF), and another compound, DTPA Iron (III), for septic shock.

During his 10-year tenure at Burroughs Wellcome, Molina was one of the inventors of Duramycin for CF, and worked on developing the compound with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After obtaining the assignment of Duramycin from Glaxo, MoliChem consolidated all the rights by also licensing the worldwide patent rights to the compound from UNC...