Chiroscience Group Plc
FormerlyChiros
formerly on the London Stock Exchange
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)[1]
Founder
Defunct1999 (1999)
FateAcquired 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

References and notes

  1. ^ Start year has been reported also as 1992. See Springett 1996 citation.
  2. ^ a b Springett, Pauline (November 21, 1996). "Chiroscience buys Darwin". The Guardian. p. 22. Retrieved December 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Genzyme Corp". International Directory of Company Histories. 2006 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  5. ^ The companies were of roughly equal valuation when the merger took place.
  6. ^ "Focus Chiroscience". The Guardian. London, England: Guardian Newspapers, Ltd. May 7, 1999. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  7. ^ 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

External links


Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom
Categories