CoCensys remodels its model

CoCensys Inc. 's foray into the world of accelerated commercialization ended last week with the sale of its pharmaceutical sales and marketing division to Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. 's Watson Laboratories Inc. subsidiary. The move returned COCN to a more conventional model of R&D for neurological disorders combined with partnerships with larger pharmaceutical companies.

President and CEO Richard Nichol said the company's sales force had become "a drain on us from a financial standpoint and a managerial standpoint." COCN (Irvine, Calif.) had hoped to use revenue from the sale of other companies' approved drugs to fund its own R&D, but ultimately found it did not have sufficient funds to acquire products to market...