Company: Ambrilia Biopharma

Based: Montreal, Canada

Scoop: After flirting with death for several years, Canada's Ambrilia Biopharma has secured its spot in the biotech graveyard. Merck inked a potential $215 million deal Ambirlia in 2006 for the company's early-stage HIV program, PPL-100. Two years later Merck put the program on hold as it explored other HIV therapy options.

Canada was a tough place for biotech during the darkest days of the economic crisis in 2009, and Ambrilia was no exception. It whittled its workforce down to just 15 employees and started selling off some of its assets, including an early-stage prostate cancer drug program. Just a month later, in July 2009, Ambrilia eliminated a Phase III trial of octreotide acetate (C2L) in acromegalic patients as it pursued a potential sale or merger; its CEO and CFO were let go the same week. By the end of the year the developer shuttered its Montreal operations.

Ambrilia's steady crawl onto our graveyard report was solidified after the Canadian developer revealed plans to file for bankruptcy in April.