Nuvelo Inc. was a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for acute cardiovascular disease, cancer and other debilitating medical conditions.
This technology led to collaborations and partnerships with companies and academic institutions including Affymetrix, PerkinElmer, Aurora biosciences, Amgen, Genetastix, Agilent Technologies, Callida Genomics, Aspen Institute, University of California, San Francisco, Celera Diagnostics, Surromed, Variagenics, Sequenom, Archemix, Amgen and Bayer.
In July 2006, the collaboration was expanded in that Archemix became responsible for the discovery of short-acting aptamers targeting coagulation cascade for use in acute cardiovascular procedures.
Early stage clinical trials for alfimeprase with NU206 (R-respondin protein) and NU172 (short acting thrombin inhibitor) were promising and were approved by the FDA.
Also, executive vice president Michael Levy left the company Nuvelo's market cap reached a peak of approximately $US 1 billion in the lead up to alfimeprase phase 3 studies completion, but share price plummeted eventually to less than $1 and received notification from NASDAQ.
ARCA biopharma focuses on developing genetically targeted cardiovascular therapies, with lead candidate drug Gencaro, a beta blocker and vaso-dilator.
It was Nuvelo's genetically targeted technology and cardiovascular drug development that interested ARCA Biopharma in acquiring the company.
According to the merger agreement, Nuvelo issued new shares of its common stock to ARCA stockholders and assumed the outstanding options and warrants involved.