sentences:  Novuspharma, an Italian company, was established in 1998 following the merger of Boehringer Mannheim and Hoffmann-La Roche, and BBR 2778 was developed as Novuspharma's leading anti-cancer drug, pixantrone.A patent application for the injectable preparation was filed in May 2003.In 2003, Cell Therapeutics, a Seattle biotechnology company, acquired pixantrone through a merger with Novuspharma.