APT Pharmaceuticals Inc.

When Novartis made clear its intention to acquire Chiron in 2005, a potentially important therapy for lung transplant patients was squeezed out by a numbers game. The drug candidate was an inhaled version of the immunosuppressant cyclosporine, and in a trial it had dramatically improved survival in lung transplant patients. Now, APT Pharmaceuticals takes over where Novartis left off, and it's preparing for a Phase III trial of the lung transplant drug.