July 22, 2004 — ANN ARBOR, MICH., July 22, 2004 – Velcura Therapeutics™, Inc. announced today the development of a custom Affymetrix (Nasdaq: AFFX) GeneChip® array that aids the development of bone disease therapies by enabling researchers to follow global changes in gene expression during human bone formation. Velcura worked with Affymetrix, the world leader in DNA microarray technologies, to design and produce the custom array using Affymetrix’ CustomExpress™ Array Program. This custom GeneChip array, which Velcura hopes will help speed research to help fight osteoporosis and other bone diseases, is available only to Velcura Therapeutics for use within the company for its own studies or that of its strategic partners.

July 14, 2004 — You never know what you'll find en route to looking for something else.

July 7, 2004 — Ann Arbor-based biotech company Velcura Therapeutics Inc. said Tuesday that it had hired two more staffers. Holly Britt Anderson was named laboratory-office administrator, and will handle procurement, safety, environmental compliance, grant and contract compliance and administrative duties. She has a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan Universityin biological and analytical sciences and is currently completing her MBA at EMU. Her background includes stops at Biotechnology Business Consultants L.L.C. in Ann Arbor and the Central Laboratory for Reproductive Services Program at the University of Michigan. Jessica Eason-Butler joins Velcura as a staff scientist, exploring how bone cells develop. Most recently, she was a research contractor at Pfizer Inc. in Ann Arbor. She is a 2002 Michigan State University graduate with a Masters degree in animal science, with an emphasis on animal breeding and genetics.

July 6, 2004 — ANN ARBOR, MICH., July 6, 2004 – Michael W. Long, Ph.D., the President and CEO of Velcura Therapeutics™, Inc. announced today that two outstanding Michigan life science professionals have joined the Ann Arbor biotech company that is dedicated to fighting bone disease. "The two women who have joined our team at Velcura Therapeutics are excellent representatives of the talent available here in Michigan," said Dr. Long.

April 1, 2004 — In 1988, Michael Long, PhD, a professor in the pediatrics department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., began research into a process for growing human bone outside the body. Four years later, in 1992, he filed his first patent, titled "a method and composition of matter patent on the isolation of bone precursor cells." It took five years before the patent was approved.