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Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Vicuron Pharmaceuticals was an American biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of antibiotics and antifungal agents. It began life in 1995 as Versicor, that specialized in the application of combinatorial chemistry to the discovery of novel antibiotics. The company was founded by Dr. Eric Gordon with initial funding from Sepracor (based in Marlborough MA)1. In 1997 Versicor became a Sepracor spin off, and G Horner III joined the company to become CEO. Venture capitalists were brought in to provide the additional funding. In addition to their own research programs, Versicor established collaborations with Pfizer (to discover novel oxazolidinones) and with Novartis (to discover novel inhibitors of bacterial Peptide deformylase)2. In 1998 the company initiated a collaboration with Biosearch Italia, located in Gerenzano, Italy, with the objective of applying combinatorial chemistry to natural products3. Versicor licensed the anti-candida drug Anidulafungin from the Eli Lilly company in 1998, and rapidly progressed it into phase 3 clinical trials4. The company had a successful IPO in 2000 and the stock traded as VERS on the NASDAQ exchange. Meanwhile, Biosearch Italia had also gone public (the first Italian Biotechnology company to do so), and the collaboration between the two now public companies, eventually led to their agreeing to merge in 2003, thus creating a new entity called Vicuron Pharmaceuticals5. As a result of the merger, the joint company was now in clinical development with the antibiotic Dalbavancin, in addition to the anti-fungal Anidulafungin. Dalbavancin had been discovered at Biosearch Italia several years earlier. With two agents in advanced development and NDA filings on their way, Vicuron was acquired by Pfizer in late 2005 for a price of ~1.9 billion USD6. Pfizer currently markets anidulafungin as Eraxis, whilst Dalbavancin is sold by Allergan as Dalvance in the USA. References 1. Versicor was initially a wholly owned subsidiary of Sepracor: http://getfilings.com/o0000950146-99-000680.html

2. Vicuron S-1 filing: https://sec.report/Document/0000912057-00-012927/

3. Biosearch Italia and Versicor announce joint venture called BIOCOR: https://invivo.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/deals/199820141

4. Anidulafungin: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12757403/

5. Biosearch Italia and Versicor agree to merge; Press release https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1052547/000091205702029224/a2085450zex-99_1.htm

6. Pfizer acquires Vicuron; Press Release  https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1052547/000119312505126412/dex991.htm