Aug. 30, 2006 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. was to announce today a $274,000 federal Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Aging. The grant is intended to further identify the genes or protein networks modulated during human bone formation. Velcura was the first company in the world to grow human bone in tissue culture and has multiple patents on this process. The company uses its platform bone-growth technologies to discover and optimize drugs stimulating bone formation for use in treating diseases such as osteoporosis. Velcura's first drug, VEL-0230, is scheduled to begin human clinical trials in late 2007. "This NIA grant allows us to significantly advance our understanding of how genes and their protein-products work together inside a cell to bring about bone formation," Velcura's President and CEO Michael W. Long said in a statement. "Velcura's scientific team had identified about 1,200 genes involved in this process by 2004. Yet, only knowing the names of these key genes without understanding their functional interactions, just makes us hit the wall faster. To succeed in fighting osteoporosis and other diseases, we have to understand how these genes work together and which ones are crucial to the bone formation process."

June 16, 2006 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has selected Hurley Consulting Associates Ltd. to assist Velcura with clinical trial data collection and analysis, submissions to the federal Food and Drug Administration and development program design. Hurley has already worked successfully with sponsors in designing development programs and prepared new drug applications for osteoporosis drugs in the United States and Europe. Velcura CEO Michael W. Long said his company selected Chatham, N.J.-based Hurley because of its depth of experience in osteoporosis drug development, including extensive regulatory agencies and international collaborations. Velcura is focused on drug therapies that stimulate bone growth for the treatment of osteoporosis, bone fractures and other bone disorders. Velcura's first drug both stimulates human bone formation and inhibits its loss, making it a unique compound for treating osteoporosis. It can be formulated as a pill, has completed animal safety studies, and is planned to start Phase I clinical trials in 2007. The company received $3.3 million in funding from the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor in 2002 and more than $3.8 million from the National Institutes of Health.

Aug. 10, 2005 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. said Tuesday that it has a licensing agreement with Nippon Chemiphar Co. Ltd., a Japanese pharmaceutical company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The license agreement enables the two companies to further develop new small-molecule therapies for osteoporosis and other bone diseases. This is a critical unmet need, as osteoporosis is second only to cardiovascular disease as a world health problem, according to the World Health Organization. More than 100 million people worldwide suffer from it. The two companies also announced that they have discovered their first lead compound and shown it to be very effective in animal models of osteoporosis. In 2006, Velcura Therapeutics plans to begin clinical trials on this drug as a possible therapy for osteoporosis. In working together, the companies coupled Chemiphar's strong expertise in drug discovery with Velcura's patented process of growing human bone in tissue culture. The compound both inhibits bone loss and stimulates bone formation, and can be taken in pill form. In addition, Michael W. Long, Velcura's CEO, said he believes the drug can be formulated into a sustained-release form for treating people with bone fractures. The compound also might be used as a topical application to treat patients with gum disease, who have teeth loosened from the surrounding bone. Under the terms of the agreement, Velcura also licensed access to a broad range of similar molecules for use in research and development of second- generation drugs to treat bone diseases. Chemiphar will retain commercialization rights in Asia for any new product candidates, while Velcura will have commercialization rights in all markets outside Asia.

July 13, 2005 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. said Tuesday it has received a $1.3 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. The money will continue Velcura's work on discovering new drugs that stimulate bone formation in people. Velcura received a Phase I grant of $224,000 in 2003 for similar work. The company is developing a drug that can be taken as a pill that both stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone loss aimed at the treatment of osteoporosis and other bone-loss disorders. The drug is expected to enter clinical trials in early 2006.Velcura founder Michael W. Long has received more than $13 million in NIH funding for research, which he began as a professor at the University of Michigan. While at UM he and his research team discovered how to grow human bone outside the body. He went on to use this intellectual property to build Velcura, named for its goal of find ing "swift cures" (or in Latin, "velocitas cura" -- get it?) for those suffering from bone diseases.

Jan. 27, 2005 — Fred Beyerlein has joined the board of directors at Velcura Therapeutics Inc., an Ann Arbor biotechnology company developing therapies for osteoporosis. Beyerlein is president and CEO of Rubicon Genomics Inc. in Ann Arbor, and has been an executive at NSC Technologies, Advanced Resin, Sandaro Industries and the Hexcel Corp. He is an expert in market development, license structures, commercial technology identification, strategic plan development, acquisitions and divestitures. Velcura's two other new directors are David A. Jackson, president of Jackson Biotechnology Advisors, and William E. Orabone, founder, president and CEO of Syneptics, a venture financing entity, both of Ann Arbor. Jackson has worked in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for more than two decades, heading his own consulting firm, leading R&D for Genex Corp., and as chief scientist for two other biotechnology firms. Orabone is a veteran of four successful technology startup companies , specializing in capital sourcing, technology acquisition and licensing, strategic partnerships and product introduction.