Fierce 15 WinnerBased: West Palm Beach, FL
Founded: 2007
Website: www.xcovery.com

The Scoop: "Even though it's only a fledgling in the biotech field, Xcovery
can already rely on world-class management and scientific expertise as it
explores a more efficient approach to developing kinase therapeutics."

What makes it Fierce: Few start-ups come out the gate with the kind of
management and scientific pedigrees as Xcovery. CEO Sheridan Snyder was
co-founder and CEO at Genzyme and Dr. Chris Liang on the science side, the
director of medicinal chemistry at Scripps Research Institute, is credited
as the co-inventor of the oncology drug Sutent. The fledgling biotech - a
spinoff of Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida -- now has three
development programs in the pipeline.

Xcovery is clearly leaning heavily on Dr. Liang's expertise in the field of
kinase therapeutics to develop a new generation of oncology and inflammatory
disease therapies. It's betting that its approach to drug discovery will be
more economical and rapid that most of the timelines currently in use.

To get started, Xcovery has three development programs in place for oncology
and inflammation. An early group of kinase inhibitors--like Gleevec and
Sutent--quickly gained a multibillion-dollar market, but Xcovery is betting
that the next generation of kinase therapeutics will be more effective, have
broad applications and fewer side affects.

There's a lot at stake here. Scripps is well known for taking the science
it's developed in its own labs and translating that into commercial
successes. Florida has bet over a billion dollars that Scripps and the other
institutions lured to the Sunshine State can do just that. It's early days,
of course, but they've got started with a mother-load of great expectations.

What to look for: Lead candidates. This is an early stage of development for
Xcovery.

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/fierce15/2007/xcovery