Manuel Worcel, who was named president and CEO of the tiny Cardiokine Inc. in Philadelphia last week, was the prime mover behind an unusual drug development and marketing effort.
Worcel founded NitroMed Inc. in 1993. Like Cardiokine, Nitromed was focused on developing drugs to treat heart failure. Nitromed won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2005 for BiDil, which was the first drug approved for a single racial group.
BiDil was marketed as a treatment for heart failure in black patients, but sales have been lackluster. Total sales for the nine months ended Sept. 30 were $11 million. NitroMed halted marketing of BiDil earlier this month, laying off 70 of its 90 employees.
Worcel stepped down at NitroMed, where he was most recently chief medical officer, on Jan. 17. Cardiokine announced Worcel's hiring Jan. 22.
Cardiokine's former CEO, David Brand, stepped down in September. The company, which has raised $87 million in venture capital, signed an agreement with Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., last July to jointly develop Cardiokine's lixivaptan, a treatment for congestive heart failure. Biogen Idec paid Cardiokine $50 million up front; the deal calls for the biotech giant to pay Cardiokine up to $170 million more based on reaching other goals.
