ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Velcura Therapeutics, Inc. will be recognized as one of the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch,” an award designed to shine the spotlight on second-stage companies that is sponsored by the Edward Lowe Foundation. The award will be presented April 12, 2007 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in Lansing, MI.
Velcura Therapeutics has discovered novel drug compounds to treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases that affect more than 100 million people around the world. Its first orally-available drug candidate, VEL-0230, is to the point of initiating Phase I clinical trials in humans in late 2007.
“Osteoporosis is second only to cardiovascular disease as a public health problem and has an unmet medical need for therapies that stimulate bone formation, said Dr. Michael W. Long, president and CEO of Velcura Therapeutics. " Most current drugs for osteoporosis retard bone degradation but do not stimulate bone growth to replace already lost bone. Compounds that stimulate bone formation thus represent an important aspect of therapies for bone disease.”
The Edward Lowe Foundation is a not-for-profit operating foundation based in Michigan. Its mission is to “champion the entrepreneurial spirit” by helping second-stage entrepreneurs learn from each other. Companies nominated to be members of the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” list must be second- stage companies, defined as employing 6 to 99 full-time-equivalent employees and generating $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue or working capital in place from investors or grants. In addition, the companies must be privately held and headquartered in Michigan.
Information about the 2007 “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” program can be found at www.edwardlowe.org and www.Michigan.CompaniesToWatch.org.
About Velcura Therapeutics(R), Inc.
Focused on developing drugs that stimulate bone formation, Velcura Therapeutics(R), Inc. uses human bone cells to grow bone in tissue culture and then analyzes this process to develop novel therapies for osteoporosis and other bone diseases. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., the U.S. biotechnology company received $2 million in funding from the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor in 2006 and $3.3 million in 2002, as well as more than $3.8 million from the National Institutes of Health. A spin-off of the University of Michigan, Velcura Therapeutics has a strategic partnership with a Japanese pharmaceutical company, Nippon Chemiphar Co., Ltd. and in 2007 they plan to begin human clinical trials of a new drug the two companies have found to be effective in animal models of osteoporosis. For more information, visit www.velcura.com.
Available Topic Expert: For information on the listed expert, click appropriate link. Michael W. Long, Ph.D. http://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=49215
Velcura Therapeutics, Inc.
CONTACT: Cindy Orlandi, APR, ABC +1-734-250-2619 or +1-734-973-1000,corlandi@velcura.com
