The firm behind the first race-based drug, BiDil, could be up for sale. NitroMed, of Lexington, Massachusetts, said in mid-January that it was cutting employees from 90 to 20, discontinuing marketing activities for BiDil and asking New York–based Cowen and Co. to “advise it on strategic alternatives”—code meaning the company is considering offers. BiDil (isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine hydrochloride) is approved to treat congestive heart failure in self-identified black patients. The product is a fixed-dose combination of two generics, and the exact mechanism by which they work together is unknown. The company and investment community once had high hopes for the product—NitroMed's stock was trading in the $20s around the time the drug was approved in 2005—but sales have totaled just $27.6 million since then through the first nine months of 2007. BiDil drew plenty of attention when first cleared—much of it negative—as many postulated that the approval was based more on NitroMed exploiting a new patent covering blacks (the original patent expired in 2007) than on sound clinical data (Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 903, 2005). But the product mostly was hurt in the marketplace by its generic ingredients being readily available at a fraction of the cost, says Liana Moussatos, analyst with Pacific Growth Equities in San Francisco, who says the media backlash against the race-based approval “made no difference” to sales. BH