If you follow the stock market, you’ve surely taken note of the continually climbing value of ANAC stock (Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in Palo Alto, California). The company, founded in 2002, was created around boron chemistry technology developed by Dr. Stephen Benkovic of Penn State University and co-founder Dr. Lucy Shapiro of Stanford University.

The stock began the year at just over $30 per share. Today the stock is selling for $132.58 per share, and they hit a high of the year at $156.925. The company’s value lies in its unique platform that has the potential to treat multiple diseases.

Prior to Anacor’s experimentation with boron, researchers had limited understanding of the physical properties of the chemical element, despite its occurrence in many natural substances, such as fruits, vegetables, milk, and coffee. In their early years, the company explored the potential uses of boron in drug development and found that their boron platform had potential applications in the treatment of multiple diseases including bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections as well as inflammatory diseases.

According to Anacor’s researchers, Boron has two unique qualities that give it advantages in the drug discovery process. “First, boron has a unique geometry that allows compounds made from it to have two distinct shapes, giving boron-based drugs the ability to interact with biological targets in novel ways and to address targets not amenable to intervention by traditional carbon-based compounds. And second, boron's enhanced reactivity as compared to carbon allows the molecules to hit targets that are difficult to destroy with carbon chemistry.”

Since Anacor Pharmaceuticals was founded, they launched one drug and are currently in the process of approval for another product. In July 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved KERYDIN® (tavaborole) topical solution, an oxaborole antifungal, for the topical treatment of onychomycosis of the toenails. In a July 13 press release, Anacor announced that Crisaborole Topical Ointment, non-steroidal topical anti-inflammatory treatment, had positive top-line results from two phase 3 pivotal studies. In a recent press release, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anacor Paul L. Berns said, “We currently plan to file a New Drug Application for crisaborole in the first half of 2016 and, if approved, we believe crisaborole could offer an important treatment option for patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis.”

With this new treatment and others being explored, Anacor researchers have the potential to make an impact in their core therapeutic areas of fungal, inflammatory, and bacterial diseases. Their research could also potentially have applications in non-core areas, such as parasitic, cancer, and ophthalmic indications and animal health.

Stay tuned for more about Anacor in a future issue of Journeys.