Dec. 21, 2004 — Two companies in Houston announced today that they merged in order to share their resources and expertise in carbon nanomaterials. Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (CNI), a manufacturer of single-wall carbon nanotubes, and C Sixty Inc., a company developing fullerene-based drugs, said the merger will let them develop products that combine the spherical and tubular forms of carbon and look for opportunities to use their complementary intellectual property portfolios.

C Sixty will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CNI. C Sixty was founded in 1999 in Canada under the leadership of oncologist Uri Sagman. The company focused on developing fullerenes, also known as C-60 because they are made of 60 carbon atoms, as delivery mechanisms for AIDS drugs and other medical applications.

In 2003, C Sixty moved to Houston, the birthplace of fullerenes. That same year it partnered with the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. to develop fullerene-based drugs for degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

CNI was co-founded in 2000 by Richard Smalley, who co-discovered fullerenes in the 1980s as a chemist at Rice University in Houston. In the 1990s scientists recognized that a tubular cousin of fullerenes called carbon nanotubes could be grown in controlled conditions. CNI was created to make and sell commercial quantities of nanotubes.

Bob Gower, the president, CEO and a co-founder of CNI, is the chairman of the board at C Sixty. Russ Lebovitz is president of C Sixty. Smalley is a scientific adviser for both companies.