In August 2000 the company's board of directors adopted resolutions to approve an asset purchase agreement with Promega Corporation (another SBIR firm from Madison, Wisconsin) and to effect the subsequent dissolution of the company. Ophidian Pharmaceuticals Inc had been a development stage company engaged in the research and development of pharmaceuticals with an emphasis on products for infectious diseases. With important okringelationships with majorpharmaceutical companiesof the peiod, the company had been working on a product for the treatment of Clostrdium Difficile-Associated Disease (CDAD) - a bacterial infection that has become a common side effect of antibiotic therapy. The CDAD product is a result of the company's strategy to design new drugs for infectious diseases by targeting molecules involved in the host-pathogen interaction. Ophidian devised a drug formulation and manufacturing technology for the production of avian polyclonal antibodies for passive immune therapy. It was judged likely to be safer when administered orally, because they are derived from hen eggs that are common in the human diet. The development-stage company used eggs to create an antitoxin treatment for a serious bowel infection commonly associated with broad-spectrum antibiotic use. Ophidian (the name means "snake-like" also worked on applications of its technology for gastrointestinal infections and inflammatory bowel disease.
