Originally located in Cambridge, MA, in July 1996 Nemapharm was acquired by Sequana Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQNA). Associated to that transaction, NemaPharm became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the then new entity of Axys Pharmaceuticals, a gene-to-drug discovery company formed in January 1998 from the merger of Sequana Therapeutics (human genetics and genomics expertise) and Arris Pharmaceutical (combinatorial and medicinal chemistry expertise). NemaPharm personnel had expertise in the use of Caenorhabditis elegans for human drug discovery,. Researchers were working to unlock disease pathways, identify new therapeutic targets and discover drug candidates. In 1998, NemaPharm movied its entire operations from Cambridge, MA to newly built-out laboratories on the Axys campus in South San Francisco.
