Cephalon

Cephalon
Cephalon, Inc.
Type Subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Industry Biotechnology, Biopharmaceutical
Founded 1987
Headquarters Frazer, Pennsylvania, United States
Key people J. Kevin Buchi, CEO
Products medical development
Employees 3,726 (as of December 31, 2010)
Website www.cephalon.com

Cephalon, Inc. is a U.S. biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by Dr. Frank Baldino, Jr., a pharmacologist and former scientist with the DuPont Company, who served as the company'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," and it was established primarily to pursue treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Sales revenues reached $2.8 billion in 2010, ranking Cephalon among the leading biopharmaceutical companies in the world. In 2006, industry publication MedAd News named the company one of the ten most respected biotechnology firms in the world. Cephalon employs more than 3,700.

Cephalon was first included in the Fortune 1000 list of U.S. companies based upon annual revenues for 2006.

On 2 May 2011, Teva has announced its acquisition of Cephalon.[2]

Contents

Background

The company's early research efforts were focused on the development of IGF-1, an insulin-like growth factor, under a collaboration with Chiron Corporation to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, but the product has never been approved.

More recently, the company has developed and commercialized products for the treatment of sleep disorders, pain, addiction and cancer. In addition to conducting research on kinase inhibitors and other small molecules, it has licensed compounds and acquired both products and other companies, including CIMA Labs, Anesta, and Laboratoire Lafon. It was from the latter company that Cephalon purchased the rights to modafinil, which it marketed under the trade name Provigil for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder.[1] Sales of Provigil reached nearly one billion dollars in 2008.

In February 2009, Cephalon announced its intention to acquire Australian biotechnology firm Arana Therapeutics, a move that represents one of the largest changes in the Australian life sciences landscape. The acquisition of Arana brings Cephalon its lead biologic candidate ART621 for inflammatory diseases. Moreover, Cephalon is acquiring biologics for the treatment of cancers. In February 2010, Cephalon exercise its option to acquire Ception Therapeutics, following receipt of positive data from a clinical study in adults with eosinophilic asthma. Commenting on this Frank Baldino, Jr, the CEO of Cephalon, said “The acquisition of Ception is consistent with our strategy to diversify into biologics and provides us with an important phase three asset for further development.” [3]

Cephalon's Drug Discovery group is remarkable in that it has failed to produce a single FDA approved drug in its lifetime, which is due in part to having focused on difficult therapeutic areas such as neurodegenerative disorders. However, recent efforts have been more promising in that they have met apparent clinical success in oncology, and have advanced several compounds from the company's internal research pipeline. In line with this success in oncology was the company's agreement to acquire Australia's ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals, which provided Cephalon with marketing rights to Omapro, an experimental CML therapeutic agent.[4]

Locations

The company has its corporate headquarters west of Philadelphia in Frazer, Pennsylvania and its research operations in nearby West Chester, as well as manufacturing and other operations in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota and Salt Lake City, Utah; its European operations are based near Paris, France.

Management

Longtime chief financial officer J. Kevin Buchi succeeded Baldino as CEO in 2011. Members of the board include venture capitalist William Egan, former COR Therapeutics CEO Vaughan Kailian, prominent healthcare economist Dr. Gail Wilensky, former SmithKline Beecham executive Dr. Martyn Greenacre, former Harvard physician and Glaxo USA head Dr. Charles Sanders and former Ambassador Kevin Moley.

Products

Select products that Cephalon manufactures and markets include:

  • Actiq (fentanyl citrate) - Cancer pain
  • Amrix (cyclobenzaprine) - Muscle relaxant
  • Fentora (fentanyl) - Cancer pain
  • Gabitril (tiagabine) - Seizures
  • Nuvigil (armodafinil) - Narcolepsy
  • Provigil (modafinil) - Narcolepsy
  • Treanda (bendamustine) - Indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
  • Trisenox (arsenic trioxide) - Acute promyelocytic leukemia treatment

Pipeline Candidates

Select candidates in Cephalon's pipeline include:

  • CEP-26401 - Alzheimer's Disease[citation needed]
  • CEP-701 (Lestaurtinib) - Malignancies
  • Lupuzor - Systemic lupus erythematosus (Phase IIB trial complete [5] )
  • CEP-18770 - multiple myeloma[6]

References

External links

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cephalon — Cephalon, von altgriechisch κεφαλή Kopf, steht für: Cephalon (Anatomie), den vordersten Körperabschnitt von Krebstieren und Trilobiten Cephalon (Unternehmen), ein Pharma Unternehmen Diese Seite ist eine Begriff …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cephalon — Création 1987 modifier  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • céphalon — [sefalɔ̃] n. m. ÉTYM. 1906, in Rev. gén. des sc., no 3, p. 155; du grec kephalê « tête ». → Céphalo . ❖ ♦ Zool. Extrémité céphalique du corps de certains organismes (arthropodes). || Zone préorale et zone post orale du céphalon d un crustacé… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Cephalon — Ceph a*lon, n. (Zo[ o]l.) The head. [1913 Webster] || …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cephalon — A term that refers to the head of a crustacean [Brusca and Brusca, 2002]. Anterior region of the body bearing the antennules, antennae, eyes, mandibles, maxillules, and maxillae [Holdich and Jones, 1983]. Anteriormost tagma, bearing eyes, mouth,… …   Crustacea glossary

  • Céphalon — Le terme de céphalon désigne la tête des arthropodes. Il est constitué de l acron et de 6 métamères qui sont fusionnés sans suture visible. Il possède l ensemble des organes sensoriels. © Anatomie d un trilobite …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cephalon (Unternehmen) — Cephalon Inc. Rechtsform Corporation ISIN US1567081096 Gründung …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cephalon (Anatomie) — Cephalon bei einem Trilobiten Als Cephalon (von altgr. κεφαλή Kopf, deutsche Bezeichnung: Kopfschild oder Kopfabschnitt) bezeichnet man das erste Tagma vieler Krebse und Trilobiten. Bei den Trilobiten befindet sich auf der Oberseite die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • CEPHALON Gergithius — Κεφαλὼν ὁ Γεργήθιος memoratur Straboni, l. 13. ubi ait, fuisse in agro Cumano urbem, quae pluralis numeri et genere muliebri αἱ Γέργηθες diceretur, atque hanc Cephalonis huius patriam fuisse. Testem quoque eum producunt Parthenius in Eroticis,… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Cephalon (arthropod head) — For the biotechnology company, see Cephalon …   Wikipedia

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