BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

Acologix: Life after consulting

May 24, 2004 7:00 AM UTC

Acologix Inc. began in 1992 as Big Bear Bio Inc., a company that dabbled in research but paid the bills through consulting other biotech companies on business development strategies. Now, after in-licensing compounds identified through research partnerships with universities, Acologix is putting its pipeline of therapeutics to treat kidney and bone diseases into the clinic.

According to President and CEO Yoshinari Kumagai, the company saved about $4 million from consulting and invested it in research programs at universities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. As a result of these collaborations, Acologix has so far licensed exclusive rights to six candidates that have been identified as potential therapeutics for disorders of the bone, kidney and extracellular matrix...