Zeneca

Zeneca Group PLC, trading as Zeneca, was a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in June 1993 by the demerger of the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals businesses of Imperial Chemical Industries into a separate company listed on the London Stock Exchange.[1]

In 1999, Zeneca and the Sweden-based pharmaceutical company Astra AB merged to form AstraZeneca plc.[2][3] Zeneca shareholders received 53.5% of the shares, while Astra shareholders received the remaining 46.5%.[4]

Zeneca's largest therapeutic area was oncology, in which its key products included Casodex, Nolvadex and Zoladex.[5] Other key products included heart drug Tenormin.[6]

Name

"Zeneca" was an invented name created by the branding consultancy Interbrand.[7] Interbrand had been instructed to find a name which began with a letter from either the top or bottom of the alphabet and was phonetically memorable, of no more than three syllables and did not have an offensive meaning in any language.[7]

History

In December 1994, Zeneca agreed the acquisition of 50% of Salick Health Care, an operator of cancer care centres in the United States, in a transaction which valued Salick at US$440 million.[8] Zeneca announced the sale of its textile colours business to the German group BASF in May 1996.[9] Zeneca announced it would purchase the remaining 50% of Salick Health Care that it did not already own on 28 March 28, 1997.[10] In December 1997, Zeneca acquired the US fungicide operations of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, along with the international distribution rights to four recently developed fungicides, herbicides and pest control products, for US$500 million.[11][12]

In May 1998, Zeneca announced that Tom McKillop, then the head of its drugs division, would succeed Sir David Barnes as chief executive, with Barnes becoming non-executive chairman of the company.[13] In November 1998, Zeneca announced that it would sell its Zeneca Specialties division, including its biocides, industrial colours, life science molecules, performance and intermediate chemicals and resins activities.[14] On 11 December 1998, Zeneca and Astra AB announced a £48 billion merger.[15] In February 1999, it was reported that Zeneca would sue the US Food and Drug Administration over its decision to allow Gensia Sicor to produce a generic version of its anaesthetic Diprivan.[16] The merger between Zeneca and Astra AB was completed in April 1999, forming AstraZeneca plc.[17]

Zeneca's founder then presided over RBS bank, until it announced a loss of 60 billion pounds, the second biggest banking loss in European history.

See also

• Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom