Chiroscience

Chiroscience Group Plc was a British-based biotech company, founded by Christopher Evans. The company was taken over by Celltech in 1999,^[3] which was acquired in 2004 by UCB.

Chiroscience Group Plc

Formerly	Chiros
Traded as	formerly on the London Stock Exchange
Founded	1991; 34 years ago (1991)[1]
Founder	Andrew Richards Peter Keen Chris Evans
Defunct	1999 (1999)
Fate	Acquired by Celltech
Key people	John Padfield CEO, 1996[2]

History

Chiroscience was born from the demise of the company Enzymatix, which was ultimately acquired by Genzyme,^[4] when Andrew Richards joined the company and convinced Evans and Peter Keen to launch Chiros, which name was quickly revised to Chrioscience.^[3] Seed funding for the company of £3 million was provided by Schroder Ventures, Apax and 3i.^[3] Chiroscience became one of the first biotechnology Initial Public Offerings in the United Kingdom in 1994.^[3]

In 1996, the company merged with the American biotech company Darwin Molecular Corporation, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, retaining Chiroscience as its name.^[2]

By the time of its merger with Celltech in 1999,^[5] both Chris Evans and Peter Keen had left the company, leaving Andrew Richards as the sole remaining founder and member of the original management board.^[3]

See also

• Chirocaine, an anesthetic developed by Chiroscience^[6][7]
• Romosozumab, discovered by Chiroscience before its acquisition by Celltech^[3]
• Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom