Zeneca (officially Zeneca Group PLC) was a British multinational

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

company headquartered in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. 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 London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. In 1999, Zeneca and the

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

-based pharmaceutical company Astra AB merged to form AstraZeneca plc. Zeneca's largest therapeutic area was

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

, in which its key products included

Casodex Bicalutamide, sold under the brand name Casodex among others, is an antiandrogen medication that is primarily used to treat prostate cancer. It is typically used together with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogue or surgical remov ...

Nolvadex Tamoxifen, sold under the brand name Nolvadex among others, is a selective estrogen receptor modulator used to prevent breast cancer in women and treat breast cancer in women and men. It is also being studied for other types of cancer. It has ...

and

Zoladex Goserelin, sold under the brand name Zoladex among others, is a medication which is used to suppress production of the sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen), particularly in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer. It is an injectable gona ...

. Other key products included heart drug Tenormin.

Name

"Zeneca" was an invented name created by the branding consultancy Interbrand. 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.

History

In December 1994, Zeneca agreed the acquisition of 50% of Salick Health Care, an operator of cancer care centres in the

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, in a transaction which valued Salick at US$440 million. Zeneca announced the sale of its textile colours business to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

group BASF in May 1996. Zeneca announced it would purchase the remaining 50% of Salick Health Care that it did not already own on 28 March 28 1997. 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. 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. 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. On 11 December 1998, Zeneca and Astra AB announced a £48 billion merger. In February 1999, it was reported that Zeneca would sue the US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

over its decision to allow Gensia Sicor to produce a generic version of its anaesthetic Diprivan. The merger between Zeneca and Astra AB was completed in April 1999, forming AstraZeneca plc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeneca AstraZeneca Defunct companies based in London Pharmaceutical companies established in 1993 British companies established in 1993 Multinational companies headquartered in England Pesticides in the United Kingdom Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 1999 British companies disestablished in 1999 Corporate spin-offs

Name

History

See also

References