# AGY Therapeutics

> AGY Therapeutics was a South San Francisco biotechnology company founded in 1998 to discover central nervous system drug targets by mapping how disease changes gene activity over time. It built the imAGYne platform, pursued stroke and other neurological disorders, and licensed the sigma-1 agonist AGY-94806 from M’s Science in 2004. AGY ceased operating around 2005; the compound was later tested by M’s Science in a 60-patient Phase II stroke study without a significant benefit on the primary efficacy measure.

- **Founded:** 1998
- **Headquarters:** South San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Karoly Nikolich (Co-founder, founding CEO and chief scientific officer), Robert A. Swanson (Co-founder)
- **Products:** imAGYne, AGY-94806 (SA4503; cutamesine), AGY-110
- **Notable:** Built the imAGYne platform for time-course analysis of disease pathways., Reportedly raised $68 million in total by April 2004., Licensed its first clinical-stage drug candidate in July 2004.

## Products & services

- **imAGYne** — Proprietary platform combining disease models, gene discovery, expression profiling, pathway analysis and target validation to study central nervous system disease progression.
- **AGY-94806 (SA4503; cutamesine)** — Licensed sigma-1 receptor agonist pursued for functional recovery after stroke; investigational, never an approved AGY product.
- **AGY-110** — Alzheimer's disease drug target around which AGY began a discovery program, not a marketed drug.

## Achievements

- Built the imAGYne platform for time-course analysis of disease pathways.
- Reportedly raised $68 million in total by April 2004.
- Licensed its first clinical-stage drug candidate in July 2004.
- Generated patents and research programs across stroke and other central nervous system disorders.

## Latest updates

- **2014-09** — A later M’s Science-funded Phase II cutamesine stroke trial reported safety in 60 patients but no significant effect on its primary efficacy measure.
- **2005** — AGY ceased operating; later reporting described its IP transfer to Pfizer and M’s Science.

## Links

- Website: http://www.agyinc.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/agy-therapeutics-inc-

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Last updated: 2026-09-29