Chiron Corporation
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Biotechnology |
Founded | 1981 |
Defunct | April 20, 2006 |
Fate |
|
Headquarters | Emeryville, California, USA |
Products | Biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, blood testing |
Revenue | $1.921 billion (2005) |
Number of employees | 5,400 (2005) |
Website | www.chiron.com |
Chiron Corporation (
Early history
Chiron was founded in 1981 by chairman, William J. Rutter, president and chief executive, Professor Edward Penhoet, and vice president for research, Pablo DT Valenzuela. All were academics from the University of California; Penhoet at Berkeley, where he continued to lecture, and the others from San Francisco.[1] Chiron formed a partnership with the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Ciba-Geigy Ltd.,[1] through the Biocine Company,[3][4] to use genetic engineering to develop vaccines and to treat, prevent and diagnose diseases such as AIDS, herpes and malaria.[1][5] Other partnerships included Thicon Inc. to develop a growth factor hormone for the treatment of wounds and Merck & Co to develop an improvement to their existing hepatitis B vaccine.[1] In 1986, Professor Penhoet said: "Our business strategy is to dominate small markets rather than take a small presence in a broad market." The niche that Chiron was focusing on was ophthalmology, which Mr. Penhoet said was "big enough to be interesting, but small enough to service with 40 salespeople."[1] Professor Penhoet also stated that Chiron was set up to provide the enabling technology for others to use under license,[1] and later saying that Chiron was "as close to a virtual corporation as you can be", with few fixed assets but more relationships.[6]
From 1982–1988, intense successive molecular biology studies at the Chiron
Expansion
In 1988, Chiron formed a joint venture company, called Mimesys Inc., with
Products and other acquisitions
In 1992, the company's first product,
In 1997 Chiron provided the active ingredient,Lawsuits
When in 1991 Cetus was acquired it was subject to a lawsuit by the
In 2004, Chiron attracted adverse media coverage after the UK government suspended its license for manufacturing
Bombings
On August 27, 2003 two bombs exploded at Chiron's headquarters in Emeryville, California.
The end of Chiron
Novartis Corporation was the result of a merger between Sandoz Laboratories and Ciba-Geigy in 1996 and owned slightly less than half of Chiron[40] as part of a Federal Trade Commission order.[41] Several of Sandoz’s subsidiaries were sold off for reasons of anti monopoly legislation.[41] In 2005, Novartis made an offer to buy Chiron. Initially this offer was rebuffed, but after the bid was substantially enhanced, Chiron was sold, and became part of Novartis in April, 2006.[42] A year later, parts of ex-Chiron were sold in part and leased in part to Bayer.[43] In 2011 Bayer announced it was withdrawing from a manufacturing plant it had leased from Novartis.[44] and Novartis finally divested most of the former Chiron assets in 2013 as part of a global reorganization.[45]
Products
- Agrippal
- Begrivac
- Fluad
- Fluvirin
- Proleukin
- TOBI
See also
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- British Medical Association
- Food and Drug Administration
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Lawrence M. Fisher (October 13, 1986). "Biotechnology Spotlight Now Shines On Chiron". The New York Times.
- ^ "GSK Pharma completes acquisition of Novartis Healthcare's vaccines business". Pharmaceutical Technology. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
- ^ a b "Chiron-Cetus Management". The New York Times. November 26, 1991.
- ^ "Chiron to Get $20 Million". The New York Times. November 15, 1998.
- ^ "Loss at Chiron Is Attributed to Ciba Alliance". The New York Times. May 9, 1995.
- ^ a b Lawrence M. Fisher (April 4, 1993). "A New Model for Biotechnology". The New York Times.
- ISBN 978-81-269-0598-0.
- ^ PMID 19781804.
This review describes work conducted largely in my laboratory at the Chiron Corporation between 1982 and 1989 that led to the identification of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Key colleagues included Dr. Qui-Lim Choo in my laboratory and Dr. George Kuo also of Chiron as well as my collaborator Dr. Daniel Bradley at the CDC...
- ^ "2020 Medicine Nobel Winner Declined 2013 Prize That Overlooked His Teammates". Science the wire. October 5, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- S2CID 224822368. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
- ^ "Chiron Research Unit". The New York Times. October 4, 1988.
- ^ Lawrence M. Fisher (March 3, 1989). "Specialist in Diagnostics Now President of Chiron". The New York Times.
- ^ "Chiron-Ortho Pact For Du Pont Unit". The New York Times. January 3, 1990.
- ^ "Chiron Acquisition". The New York Times. April 12, 1991.
- ^ Andrew Pollack (July 23, 1991). "2 Biotech Pioneers To Merge". The New York Times.
- ^ Lawrence M. Fisher (April 17, 1992). "Price of Failure In Biotechnology". The New York Times.
- ^ "Chiron's President Quits". The New York Times. December 8, 1992.
- ^ "Chief Executive Named at Chiron". The New York Times. March 24, 1998.
- ^ "Chiron Hires GlaxoSmithKline Executive as Chief". The New York Times. March 21, 2003.
- ^ John Tagliabue (September 18, 1998). "Bayer Buying Chiron Unit and Stake in Seed Venture; Agfa Offering Set". The New York Times.
- ^ Lawrence M. Fisher (December 20, 1997). "F.D.A. Panel Recommends Approval of a Chiron Drug". The New York Times.
- ^ Milt Freudenheim (July 24, 1993). "F.D.A. Approves a Multiple Sclerosis Drug". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Chiron Company Profile". The New York Times. August 5, 1993.
- ^ "FDA Clears REGRANEX – becaplermin – Gel 0.01% for Diabetic Foot Ulcers; Chiron to Supply Active Ingredient to Ortho-McNeil". December 17, 1997.
- ^ a b Andrew Pollack (August 15, 2000). "Chiron to Acquire PathoGenesis for $700 Million". The New York Times.
- ^ "FDA Approves Inhaled Antibiotic for Management of Cystic Fibrosis Patients". FDA. December 22, 1997.
- ^ "Chiron Corporation – history".
- ^ "Chiron Corporation / PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc". UK Office of Fair Trading. July 7, 2003. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
- ^ "Chiron To Buy Matrix, Maker of Cancer Drug". The New York Times. January 8, 2002.
- ^ "Chiron vaccines starts work on new state-of-the art vaccines manufacturing plant". Northwest Regional Development Agency. February 27, 2004. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
- ^ BW HealthWire (April 16, 1998). "Chiron Files Infringement Suit in Japan Against Roche On HCV Patent". The Free Library.
- ^ "Bayer Sues Over Medical Acquisition". The New York Times. February 2, 2002.
- ^ "Bayer Corporation v. Chiron Corporation" (PDF). November 8, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 27, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
- ^ PMID 15485949.
- ^ David Brown (November 18, 2004). "U.S. Knew Last Year of Flu Vaccine Plant's Woes". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Chiron Litigation" (PDF). October 5, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
- ^ Stacy Finz (August 29, 2003). "2 bombs shatter biotech firm's windows". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ FBI Most Wanted Listing
- ^ Animal rights activist added to FBI's most wanted terrorist list, The Telegraph, April 24th 2009.
- ^ Lawrence M. Fisher (January 30, 1997). "Chiron to Make Room for One More at the Top". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Docket C-3725 (March 24, 1997). "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEFORE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION" (PDF). Federal Trade Commission.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Novartis acquisition of Chiron approved by Chiron shareholders". April 19, 2006. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013.
- ^ Alison Fischer for First Word Pharma. March 26th, 2007 Novartis sells Betaseron manufacturing facilities to Bayer
- ^ Ron Leuty for the San Francisco Business Times. May 26, 2011 Bayer closing Emeryville plant, shedding 540 jobs
- ^ Andrew Morse for the Wall Street Journal. Nov. 11, 2013 Novartis Sells Unit for $1.68 Billion: Swiss Drug Maker Steps Up Focus on Core Business