Chiroscience Group Plc was a British-based
biotech
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
company, founded by
Christopher Evans. The company was taken over by
Celltech
Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
History
Celltech was founded by Gerard Fairtlough in 1980 with fina ...
in 1999,
which was acquired in 2004 by
UCB.
History
Chiroscience was born from the demise of the company Enzymatix, which was ultimately acquired by Genzyme, when Andrew Richards joined the company and convinced Evans and Peter Keen to launch Chiros, which name was quickly revised to Chrioscience.
Seed funding for the company of was provided by
Schroder Ventures
Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Ser ...
,
Apax
Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...
and
3i.
Chiroscience became one of the first biotechnology
Initial Public Offerings
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in the United Kingdom in 1994.
In 1996, the company merged with the American biotech company ''Darwin Molecular Corporation'', based in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, retaining Chiroscience as its name.
By the time of its merger with Celltech in 1999, 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.
See also
*
Chirocaine, an anesthetic developed by Chiroscience
*
Romosozumab
Romosozumab, sold under the brand name Evenity, is a medication used to treat osteoporosis. It has been found to decrease the risk of fractures of the spine.
Common side effect include headache, joint pain, and pain at the site of injection. ...
, discovered by Chiroscience before its acquisition by Celltech
*
Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom
The pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom directly employs around 73,000 people and in 2007 contributed £8.4 billion to the UK's GDP and invested a total of £3.9 billion in research and development. In 2007 exports of pharmaceutical prod ...
References and notes
Further reading
* This shows performance of stock from May 1995 to May 1996.
* Contains a graphic showing company stock performance across 1994 to 1996.
External links
UCB Group website
Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom
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