Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was a

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

based

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...

founded in March 1992 to commercialize several discoveries made in the biomedical laboratories at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Clinical development

Two anticancer agents, Onrigin (laromustine), formerly cloretazine (VNP40101M), and Triapine, a ribunucloetide reductase inhibitor similar to

hydroxyurea Hydroxycarbamide, also known as hydroxyurea, is a medication used in sickle-cell disease, essential thrombocythemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, polycythemia vera, and cervical cancer. In sickle-cell disease it increases fetal hemoglobin and d ...

, were in human

clinical trials Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

. A novel

alkylating agent Alkylation is the transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene (or their equivalents). Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting al ...

, Onrigin was evaluated in a Phase 2 trial in elderly ''de novo'' poor-risk

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may includ ...

(AML). In addition, several trials of Onrigin were conducted in elderly patients with AML and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in combination with

cytarabine Cytarabine, also known as cytosine arabinoside (ara-C), is a chemotherapy medication used to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is given by i ...

, and in patients with brain tumors in combination with

temozolomide Temozolomide (TMZ), sold under the brand name Temodar among others, is a medication used to treat brain tumors such as glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma. Text was copied from this source which is © European Medicines Agency. Reproduction ...

Bankruptcy

After Onrigin was rejected by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

for an AML indication in 2009 due to an unfavorable risk-benefit profile, the company became defunct. The company declared bankruptcy in December 2009.

References

Companies based in New Haven, Connecticut Health care companies based in Connecticut Defunct companies based in Connecticut Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies established in 1992 Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2009 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 {{med-company-stub