About Cardium: Historical Background
Cardium Therapeutics was initially formed as
a Delaware corporation in December 2003 by Christopher J. Reinhard,
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Tyler M.
Dylan, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer and General Counsel, to acquire
certain technology and product rights from Schering AG Group,
Germany relating to certain growth factor therapeutics that were
initially developed by Collateral Therapeutics Inc. (“Collateral”) in partnership with
Schering. Mr. Reinhard was a co-founder and executive officer
of Collateral and Dr. Dylan was General Counsel of Collateral. In
2002, following a six-year
strategic research and development collaboration and successful
Phase 2 clinical studies of Generx, Schering acquired Collateral
for approximately $160 million.
As part of a strategic refocusing in 2004, Schering
divested its cardiovascular small molecule drugs and biologics
under clinical development, including Generx. Mr. Reinhard and Dr. Dylan
subsequently negotiated a transaction to acquire Schering’s
portfolio of cardiovascular growth factor therapeutics formally
co-developed with Collateral. In October 2005, Cardium completed
a private equity financing concurrent with a merger transaction
with a small public company raising $30 million to support its acquisition
of Schering’s portfolio of growth factor therapeutics. Since
Cardium was initially funded,
it has made three acquisitions:
- In October 2005, Cardium acquired a portfolio
of growth factor therapeutics from the Schering AG Group, Germany,
including the later-stage Phase 3 product candidate, Generx™,
a DNA-based growth factor therapeutic which is being developed
for potential use by interventional cardiologists as a one-time
treatment to promote and stimulate the growth of collateral
circulation in the hearts of patients with ischemic conditions
such as recurrent angina.
- In March 2006, Cardium acquired the technologies
and products of InnerCool Therapies, a San Diego-based medical
technology company in the emerging field of temperature modulation
therapy to rapidly and controllably cool the body in order to
reduce cell death and damage following acute ischemic events
such as cardiac arrest or stroke, and to potentially lessen
or prevent associated injuries such as adverse neurological
outcomes.
- In August 2006, Cardium acquired the technologies and products of the Tissue Repair Company (TRC), a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of growth factor therapeutics for the treatment of chronic diabetic wounds. TRC’s lead product candidate, Excellarate™, utilizes TRC’s Gene Activated Matrix™ (GAM) technology that consists of a DNA-based growth factor formulated within a biocompatible matrix. Excellarate is initially being developed to be topically administered once or twice for the potential treatment of non-healing diabetic foot ulcers. Other potential applications for TRC’s GAM technology include therapeutic angiogenesis (cardiovascular ischemia, peripheral arterial disease) and orthopedic products, including hard tissue (bone) and soft tissue (ligament, tendon, cartilage) repair.
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