Company: ARYx Therapeutics

Based: Santa Clara, CA

Scoop: ARYx first came to our attention when it was selected as a 2004 Fierce 15 winner. The California company was exploring retrometabolic redesign--essentially re-engineering failed compounds to flush out of the body quickly in order to avoid side effects. ARYx went public in 2007.

The first sign of trouble came in 2008 when Procter & Gamble abandoned its pact to develop a therapy for chronic constipation and dyspepsia. Another big hit occurred in 2009 when ARYx's experimental blood clotting drug tecarfarin was unable to show superiority to warfarin in a Phase II/III trial. Th company was still able to raise $35 million but opted to cuts its staff from 73 to 56 people to preserve cash.

ARYx attempted to secure a collaborator for the antiarrythmia drug budiadarone, but in 2010 it became clear that there were no takers for the program, and the company was forced to slash its workforce to less than 20 people. All of its remaining employees were let go and rehired as consultants later that year as ARYx awaited an FDA guidance on the design of a trial for naronapride, a drug for various gastrointestinal disorders. When the agency said it wouldn't deliver said guidance until July 2011, the developer was forced to liquidate its assets.