OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OGXI)

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was a biotechnology company that developed drugs intended to make cancer cells less resistant to treatment. Its programs were antisense compounds that blocked proteins tumors use to survive chemotherapy and hormone therapy. The lead candidate, custirsen, targeted clusterin, and a second drug, apatorsen, targeted heat shock protein 27. The company had operations in the Seattle area and in Vancouver, Canada.

OncoGenex became a NASDAQ company in 2008 through a reverse merger with Sonus Pharmaceuticals and traded under the symbol OGXI. Custirsen was partnered with Teva Pharmaceutical for a time and moved into several large late-stage trials in prostate and lung cancer, making OncoGenex one of the more closely watched small cancer drug developers of its era.

Those trials did not deliver. Phase 3 studies of custirsen failed to show a meaningful survival benefit, Teva ended the partnership, and apatorsen also produced disappointing results. With its pipeline largely exhausted, OncoGenex cut staff and looked for a merger that would give its shareholders a stake in a new business.

In early 2017 OncoGenex agreed to merge with privately held Achieve Life Sciences, which was developing cytisinicline, a plant-based drug for smoking cessation. The merger closed on August 1, 2017. OncoGenex effected a 1-for-11 reverse stock split, renamed itself Achieve Life Sciences, Inc., and began trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market as ACHV on August 3, 2017. Former OncoGenex holders owned about 25 percent of the combined company.