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ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

Armetheon: Stopping the bleeding

Armetheon refocusing anticoagulant tecarfarin on underserved population

June 11, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

Former ARYx Therapeutics Inc. President Peter Milner co-founded Armetheon Inc. to take a second shot at developing tecarfarin three years after the ARYx anticoagulant failed a Phase II/III trial to prevent blood clots. This time around the focus is on chronic use in the narrower population of atrial fibrillation patients with renal insufficiency, a group whose needs aren't met by available therapies.

Tecarfarin (formerly ATI-5923) is a long-acting anticoagulant that inhibits vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR). Armetheon acquired the asset from now-defunct ARYx this year. Investors lost confidence in ARYx after FDA delayed responding to a request for an SPA for Phase III testing of naronapride (ATI-7505), a gastrointestinal disorder compound, according to Milner...