Crucell

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Crucell N.V.
Privately held naamloze vennootschap; subsidiary
Industry Biotechnology
Founded 2000
Headquarters Leiden, Netherlands
Key people
Ronald Brus (CEO), Jan Pieter Oosterveld (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Vaccines and antibodies
Revenue 329.8 million (2010)[1]
Decrease (€34.3 million) (2010)[1]
Profit Decrease (€27.6 million) (2010)[1]
Total assets €967.1 million (end 2010)[1]
Total equity €786.4 million (end 2010)[1]
Owner Johnson & Johnson
Number of employees
1,250 (2009)[2]
Website www.crucell.com

Crucell is a biotechnology company specializing in vaccines and biopharmaceutical technologies. The firm, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is headquartered in Leiden, Netherlands. Crucell shares were previously listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange and formed part of the AMX index until April 2011, when J&J completed a tender offer for the company.

Technologies

Crucell develops and licenses technologies related to the discovery and manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and gene therapy products.[3]

History

In 1993 Introgene, Crucell’s predecessor, was established as a spin-off of Leiden University. The company formed a partnership with Genzyme to collaborate on its vector technology and viral-based products. In 1999 the company founded Galapagos Genomics as a joint venture together with Tibotec. In 2000 IntroGene acquired U-Bisys to form Crucell.

In 2006, Crucell and Swiss Berna Biotech, Swedish SBL Vaccines and US-based Berna Products joined forces to become the sixth largest vaccine company worldwide, with their own clinical programs.

On 7 January 2009 Crucell released a press release saying Crucell and Wyeth were in discussion on a merger of the two companies. On 26 January 2009 Crucell released another press release saying the discussions on a combination of Crucell and Wyeth was discontinued due to Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth.

On 28 September 2009 Johnson & Johnson bought 18% stake in Crucell for €302 million in order to collaborate on the development of a flu vaccine.[4] This follows in the wake of Crucell's discovery of CR6261, a potent human antibody that neutralizes a broad range of influenza A viruses. J&J agreed to acquire the rest of the company in October 2010, taking its stake to over 95% by February 2011[5] and delisting the company from stock exchanges two months later.[6]

Crucell has received U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to develop a potential vaccine that would protect against both the Ebola virus disease hemorrhagic fever (from the Ebola virus; the causative agent of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in western Africa- the largest ever of the disease, with at least 1,000 deaths), and Marburg hemorrhagic fever (from the Marburg virus), which produces similar symptoms because both are hemorrhagic fever diseases. The prognosis for both, especially without early accurate diagnosis and modern treatments and care standards, is usually quite poor. The potential vaccine could begin human testing by late 2015.[7]

Vaccine products

Paediatric

Travel and endemic

  • Epaxal
  • Vivotif - (Typhoid Vaccine Live Oral Ty21a) ([Acquired by PaxVax], Inc in July 2014)
  • Dukoral

Respiratory

  • Inflexal V

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. http://news.msn.com/science-technology/scientists-racing-to-test-ebola-vaccines-in-humans

External links