 In 2004 Empire was acquired by Neurobiological Technologies.NTI also acquired a lot of unpurified venom in the acquisition, and had that purified for use in its clinical trials.The failure of ancrod in the 6-hour window for ischemic stroke trial in 2008 led to cuts in staff, an effort to sell off the company's assets, and finally to the dissolution of NTI in August 2009.