Targacept Sold, Moving Out Of Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem is losing an anchor of its biotechnology sector. Targacept is being sold to Catalyst Biosciences Inc, which is based in San Francisco.

Targacept emerged 15 years ago with a goal of treating brain disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. Much of their original research spun out of an R. J Reynolds directive to devise a safer cigarette.

Now, following a series of failed clinical trials, the company has agreed to be bought by Catalyst, a private pharmaceutical company developing drug compounds to treat hemophilia.

The deal is known as a reverse merger, when a private company buys enough shares to control a publicly traded company.

Targacept has undergone significant changes in this decade, including reducing its workforce, ending local laboratory research and pulling out of its former headquarters in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

Dr. Stephen Hill, Targacept's chief executive, told the Winston -Salem Journal the company will not have on-going operations in Winston-Salem, and will take on the Catalyst name.