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Synergen lineage may finally pay off

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, pages 217–218 (1999)Cite this article

Third time lucky or three strikes and out? That's the $7.2 million venture capital question for the 35 former Amgen employees and six venture capital groups investing in Array BioPharma (Boulder, CO). Array is a start-up offering expertise in medicinal chemistry and high-throughput screening on a fee-for-service basis to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. With one deal announced last month, two more pending, and venture capitalists, analysts, and even competitors commending the company's experienced management team and business model, Array BioPharma is in a better position to succeed than either of its corporate ancestors, Synergen and Amgen-Boulder.

Array BioPharma was born last July, a weekend after Amgen gave up trying to find a partner for its Boulder-based R&D operation and pulled the plug on what had once been the biopharmaceutical company Synergen. Amgen bought Synergen after its interleukin-1 antagonist, Antril, failed clinical trials in July 1994 and the company was forced to hold a fire sale of its facilities, intellectual property, and net operating losses. In fact, Array BioPharma is housed in Synergen's first building, although Amgen declined to invest in the new company and is merely acting as its landlord.

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  1. Joseph Alper is a freelance writer working in Louisville, CO.

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Alper, J. Synergen lineage may finally pay off. Nat Biotechnol 17, 217–218 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/6954

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