Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino, Jr., neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the

DuPont Company DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

. Baldino served as Cephalon's chairman and chief executive officer, until his death in December 2010. The company's name comes from the adjective "cephalic" meaning "related to the head or brain", as it was established primarily to pursue treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. As noted by ''fundinguniverse.com'', in its early years,

"Cephalon initially avoided involving itself in activities that would require maintaining a sales staff, managing clinical trials, and shepherding new drugs through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. With no product to sell, Cephalon's only asset was its scientific expertise. That expertise proved sufficient to attract investors, and the company managed to fund its operations through research grants and contracts with larger pharmaceutical firms."

Cephalon was first included in the Fortune 1000 list of U.S. companies based upon annual revenues for 2006. Sales revenues reached $2.8 billion in 2010, ranking Cephalon among the leading biopharmaceutical companies in the world at that time. On May 2, 2011, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced it would acquire Cephalon.

Product development and acquisition history

The company's early research efforts were focused on the development of

IGF-1 Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), also called somatomedin C, is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin which plays an important role in childhood growth, and has anabolic effects in adults. IGF-1 is a protein that in humans is ...

, an insulin-like growth factor, in collaboration with Chiron Corporation, toward the development of a treatment for

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(Lou Gehrig's Disease), a candidate that was never approved. Thereafter, the company developed and commercialized products for the treatment of sleep disorders, pain, addiction and cancer, establishing the "wake franchise" on the basis of Provigil (

modafinil Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant medication used to treat sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea. While it has seen off-label ...

) and later,

Nuvigil Armodafinil (trade name Nuvigil) is the enantiopure compound of the eugeroic modafinil (Provigil). It consists of only the (''R'')-(−)-enantiomer of the racemic modafinil. Armodafinil is produced by the pharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. an ...

, the ''R''-enantiomer of modafinil. In addition to conducting research on

kinase inhibitor A protein kinase inhibitor is a type of enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of one or more protein kinases. Protein kinases are enzymes that phosphorylate (add a phosphate, or PO4, group) to a protein and can modulate its function. The phospha ...

s and other small molecules, Cephalon licensed other compounds, purchased other products, and acquired entire companies, in the latter case, including CIMA Labs, Anesta, and Laboratoire Lafon. It was from Lafon that Cephalon obtained the rights to

, which it marketed under the trade name

Provigil Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant medication used to treat sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea. While it has seen off-label u ...

, for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and

shift work sleep disorder Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterized by insomnia, excessive sleepiness, or both affecting people whose work hours overlap with the typical sleep period. Insomnia can be the difficulty to fall asleep ...

. Sales of Provigil reached nearly one billion dollars in 2008. In February 2009, Cephalon acquired the Australian biotechnology firm, Arana Therapeutics, which brought Cephalon its lead biologic candidate, ART621, a candidate for inflammatory diseases, and biologics for the treatment of cancers. Then, as ''infogrok.com'' noted in February 2010, "Cephalon... exercised its option to acquire Ception Therapeutics, following receipt of positive data from a clinical study in adults with eosinophilic asthma." Commenting on this, Frank Baldino Jr., CEO of Cephalon, said, "The acquisition of Ception is consistent with our strategy to diversify into biologics and provides us with an important phase three asset for further development." At the time of Baldino's death in 2010, the company he had co-founded in 1987 was best known for the alertness drug

, the painkiller Actiq, and the seizure disorder medication Gabitril. In 2011, Cephalon agreed to acquire ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals, which would provided Cephalon with marketing rights to

Omapro Omacetaxine mepesuccinate (International Nonproprietary Name, INN, trade names Synribo ), formerly named as homoharringtonine or HHT, is a pharmaceutical drug substance that is indicated for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). HHT is a n ...

, a therapeutic agent for a drug-resistant leukemia, in the oncology therapeutic area.

Management and locations

Longtime chief financial officer J. Kevin Buchi succeeded Baldino as CEO in 2011. Members of the board included: venture capitalist William Egan, former COR Therapeutics CEO Vaughan Kailian, prominent healthcare economist Dr.

Gail Wilensky Gail R. Wilensky (born June 14, 1943) is an American health economist who has worked for Republican administrations and candidacies. Life Wilensky headed Medicare under the first president Bush and works at Project HOPE. She received an honorar ...

, former SmithKline Beecham executive Dr. Martyn Greenacre, former Harvard physician and Glaxo USA head Dr. Charles Sanders and former Ambassador Kevin Moley. The company was headquartered west of Philadelphia, in Frazer, Pennsylvania, and had research operations in nearby West Chester and manufacturing and other operations in suburban

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and Salt Lake City, Utah. European operations were based near Paris, France. After the acquisition of Arana, Research and Development operations continued in Sydney, Australia.

Legal issues

In 1999 Cephalon settled a lawsuit for $17 million in which it had faced claims that Baldino and other company executives had overstated the potential for a drug aimed at treating

(Lou Gehrig's disease). In addition, the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

filed suit against Cephalon, stating that it had made "illegal deals with generic drug companies to delay generic competition to Provigil", an accusation that Cephalon has reportedly disputed. In September 2008, Cephalon paid $425 million to the federal government to settle four whistleblower lawsuits and a criminal charge alleging Cephalon had marketed Actiq, Gabitril and Provigil for “off-label” (unapproved) uses.

Products

Select products that Cephalon manufactured and marketed included: * Actiq (fentanyl citrate) *

Amrix Cyclobenzaprine (sold under the brand name Flexeril, among others) is a medication used for muscle spasms from musculoskeletal conditions of sudden onset. It is not useful in cerebral palsy. It is taken by mouth. Use is not recommended for mor ...

(cyclobenzaprine) *

Fentora Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine, b ...

(fentanyl) * Gabitril (tiagabine) *

(armodafinil) *

(modafinil) * Treanda ( bendamustine HCl) *

Trisenox Arsenic trioxide, sold under the brand name Trisenox among others, is an inorganic compound and medication. As an industrial chemical, whose major uses include in the manufacture of wood preservatives, pesticides, and glass. As a medication, it ...

( arsenic trioxide)

References

External links

* (Teva Pharmaceutical) {{Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies established in 1987 Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania Health care companies based in Pennsylvania Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Biotechnology companies established in 1987 Biotechnology companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2011 Biotechnology companies disestablished in 2011 1987 establishments in Pennsylvania 2011 disestablishments in Pennsylvania 2011 mergers and acquisitions