Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino, Jr.,[1] neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the DuPont Company. Baldino served as Cephalon's chairman and chief executive officer, until his death in December 2010.[1] 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: "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.[2]"
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,