Chiroscience
| Formerly | Chiros |
|---|---|
| formerly on the London Stock Exchange | |
| Founded | 1991[1] |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Fate | Acquired by Celltech |
Key people | John Padfield CEO, 1996[2] |
Chiroscience Group Plc was a British-based biotech company, founded by Christopher Evans. The company was taken over by Celltech in 1999,[3] which was acquired in 2004 by UCB.
History
Chiroscience was born from the demise of the company Enzymatix, which was ultimately acquired by Genzyme,[4] when Andrew Richards joined the company and convinced Evans and Peter Keen to launch Chiros, which name was quickly revised to Chrioscience.[3] Seed funding for the company of £3 million was provided by Schroder Ventures, Apax and 3i.[3] Chiroscience became one of the first biotechnology Initial Public Offerings in the United Kingdom in 1994.[3]
In 1996, the company merged with the American biotech company Darwin Molecular Corporation, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, retaining Chiroscience as its name.[2]
By the time of its merger with Celltech in 1999,[5] both Chris Evans and Peter Keen had left the company, leaving Andrew Richards as the sole remaining founder and member of the original management board.[3]
See also
- Chirocaine, an anesthetic developed by Chiroscience[6][7]
- Romosozumab, discovered by Chiroscience before its acquisition by Celltech[3]
- Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom
References and notes
- ^ Start year has been reported also as 1992. See Springett 1996 citation.
- ^ a b Springett, Pauline (November 21, 1996). "Chiroscience buys Darwin". The Guardian. p. 22. Retrieved December 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Quested, Tony (June 7, 2015). "Cream of life science entrepreneurs' first venture was selling doughnuts". Business Weekly. Cambridge, England: Q Communications. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ "Genzyme Corp". International Directory of Company Histories. 2006 – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ^ The companies were of roughly equal valuation when the merger took place.
- ^ "Focus Chiroscience". The Guardian. London, England: Guardian Newspapers, Ltd. May 7, 1999. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Choi, Audrey (November 16, 1995). "Research is taming the 'bad side' of medicines". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Vol. 84, no. 274. Originally from The Wall Street Journal. p. A-9. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
Further reading
- Datastream (May 8, 1996). "Chiroscience on the up". The Guardian. London, England. p. 21. Retrieved December 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. This shows performance of stock from May 1995 to May 1996.
- Murphy, Paul (April 26, 1996). "Market report". The Guardian. London, England. p. 20. Retrieved December 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
On Mr. Buffet's terms, Chiroscience is nothing more than a bag of dreams.
Contains a graphic showing company stock performance across 1994 to 1996.
External links
- UCB Group website Archived October 4, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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