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.
 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | UCB |
| Headquarters | Slough, UK |
Key people | Goran Ando (CEO) |
History
Celltech was founded by Gerard Fairtlough in 1980 with finance from the National Enterprise Board.[1] Amongst the work conducted at Celltech was the cloning of the glutamine synthetase (GS) gene in CHO cells leading to the creation of a biotechnology tool still widely used to express recombinant eukaryotic proteins.[2]
In 1999 Celltech led consolidation in the UK biosciences market merging with Chiroscience plc, after which it was briefly referred to as Celltech Chiroscience,[3][4] and then buying Medeva plc.[5] Then in 2000 it bought Cistron, a US biosciences business.[6] It expanded into Germany in 2001 buying Thiemann, a German biosciences business,[7] and went on to buy Oxford Glycosciences in July 2003 for £102m.[8] Celltech was acquired by UCB, a Belgian drugmaker, in 2004.[9] Since then it has been known as UCB Celltech.
Operations
The Company was engaged in research and development of therapies for patients with serious diseases. Products included:[10]
- Tussionex for coughs
- Zaroxolyn for resistant edema
- Methylphenidate for ADHD
- Amphetamine for ADHD and narcolepsy, as 5 mg Dexedrine tablets
- Semprex-D, an antihistamine and decongestant
- Inotuzumab ozogamicin and gemtuzumab ozogamicin, both through Celltech's collaboration with Wyeth.[11]
References
- "PharmaTelevision - Video". 3 January 2009. Archived from the original on 3 January 2009.
- Vuksanaj, Kathy (4 October 2021). "A British Biotech Biopedia: Early Days in the U.K."
- Macalister, Terry (19 January 2000). "Biotech sector finds new life". The Guardian. London, England: Guardian Newspapers Ltd. p. 27. Retrieved 24 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- Finch, Julia (16 June 1999). "£700m merger fuels biotech 'arms race'". The Guardian. London, England. p. 21. Retrieved 24 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- UK Biotech Industry Consolidates As Celltech Buys Medeva for $915m
- UK's Celltech Buys Cistron of the US
- "Celltech acquires German sales and marketing firm Thiemann for $44.6 m". www.thepharmaletter.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013.
- ISIS Archived September 17, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- "Celltech sold to Belgian firm in £1.5bn deal". The Guardian. 18 May 2004.
- Businessweek: Celltech Group Archived September 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- Damle, NK; Frost, P (August 2003). "Antibody-targeted chemotherapy with immunoconjugates of calicheamicin". Current Opinion in Pharmacology. 3 (4): 386–90. doi:10.1016/S1471-4892(03)00083-3. PMID 12901947.
