Quantum Pharma Plc () is a manufacturer and supplier of unlicensed medicines and Special Obtain products based in

Burnopfield Burnopfield is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated north of Stanley and Annfield Plain, close to the River Derwent and is 564 feet above sea level. There are around 4,553 inhabitants in Burnopfield. It is located 7 miles from ...

, County Durham. As of 2014, Andrew Scaife was the company's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO), who had joined the company's management team in 2009. As of the company's

initial public offering 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 investme ...

(IPO) in 2014, its activities were divided among five units: * Quantum Pharmaceutical * U L Medicines * Colonis Pharma (specialist pharmaceutical product development) * Biodose * Quantum Aseptics

History

Quantum Pharmaceutical, previously Quantum Specials, was formed in 2004 by four former managers from Unichem-owned Eldon Laboratories, and 26 pharmacists at

Tyne Metropolitan College Tyne Metropolitan College is a college of further education in North Tyneside, England. About Tyne Metropolitan College Tyne Metropolitan College is a General Further Education College located in the borough of North Tyneside (one of five metro ...

. In 2005, Phoenix Medical Supplies acquired 30% of the company. A management buyout in 2009, including the Phoenix Medical stake, saw the company partner with

Lloyds Development Capital Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developme ...

(LDC), who remained a shareholder after the company's

IPO 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 2014. Yorkshire Bank Corporate also provided senior debt and working capital financing to support the 2009 buyout; and LDC's director, John Swarbrick, joined the company's board of directors. In March of 2011, the company celebrated achieving one million customer orders. In December 2014, LDC facilitated the IPO of the firm, which resulted in a £125 million valuation. The IPO was done on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

(AIM) on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

, and the Nominated Advisor for the company's offering was Zeus Capital. Funds from the IPO went to finalizing acquisition of Colonis Pharma Limited and paying off outstanding business debt. In September 2017, the Clinigen Group of Britain, an apparent competitor of Quantum Pharma, agreed to acquire the firm for £150.3 million, noting that Quantum "introduces an unlicensed medicine ... to cope with an unmet need and it converts it into a licensed medicine." The acquisition provided "a bridge" between the unlicensed medicines and commercial medicines units of the Clingen Group. In mid-2021, the company was acquired by

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-based Target Healthcare with support from N4 Advisory.

Investigations into inflated prices

In June 2013 the Daily Telegraph infiltrated reporters into the annual Pharmacy Congress to investigate malpractice in the market for Specials. These products are generally individually priced. It was alleged that the company was prepared to offer backhanders in various ways. In particular it was alleged that the company could supply generic drugs free of charge in return for the right to supply a chain of pharmacies with special drugs. In December 2013 it was fined more than £380,000 by the Office of Fair Trading over a cartel arrangement in which it carved up some of a multimillion-pound market in prescription drugs for care homes with

Lloyds Pharmacy LloydsPharmacy is a British pharmacy company. It has around 17,000 staff and dispenses over 150 million prescription items annually. It is owned by the Aurelius Group. It was formerly owned by the American McKesson Corporation. Overview The co ...

. In 2010 it had been in a dispute with another company, Camrx, about inflated pricing of specials in which it denied any involvement.

References

External links

Quantum Pharmaceutical
{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Pharmaceutical companies established in 2004 British companies established in 2004 2004 establishments in England

History

Investigations into inflated prices

References

Further reading

External links