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Amersham plc was a manufacturer of
radiopharmaceutical Radiopharmaceuticals, or medicinal radiocompounds, are a group of pharmaceutical drugs containing radioactive isotopes. Radiopharmaceuticals can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Radiopharmaceuticals emit radiation themselves, which ...
products, to be used in diagnostic and therapeutic
nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine (nuclear radiology, nucleology), is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactivity, radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging is, in a sense, ''radiology done inside out'', ...
procedures. The company became GE Healthcare following a takeover in 2003, which was based at the original site in
Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, south-east of Aylesbury and north-east of High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. There ar ...
,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
until 2016, when the headquarters moved to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.


History

Chilcote House in Little Chalfont near Amersham was first used for extraction of
radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...
from radium concentrates in 1940, under Walter Patrick Grove. Over the next four years over 500
kilograms The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...
of radium bromide was produced, to be used to make luminous dials and instruments. In 1946 the facility was taken over by the
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...
and it became known as the "national centre for the processing and distribution of radium, radon and artificial radioactive substances for scientific, medical and industrial purposes". With a new focus on healthcare and industrial applications, the site was expanded, and by 1949 when the name changed to "The Radiochemical Centre (TRC), Amersham", the production included radium gas capsules for cancer treatment and
carbon-14 Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
. The following year it became an outstation of the
Atomic Energy Research Establishment The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), also known as Harwell Laboratory, was the main Headquarters, centre for nuclear power, atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned ...
(UKAERA) at Harwell, processing materials produced in its reactors. By the 1960s, TRC had over 1,000 catalogue items, using over 100 isotopes and exporting to 60 countries. A
cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...
was installed, the first for medical isotope production. With the restructuring of the UKAERA in 1971, TRC became a
limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
. By this time TRC had several international subsidiaries for example Amersham Buchler GmbH & Co. KG a Joint Venture with the Quinine Factory Buchler GmbH in Braunschweig (West-Germany). In 1976 work began on a second production site in
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
. The Radiochemical Centre Limited became Amersham International Limited in 1981 and was the first company to be privatised by the Thatcher Government in 1982 under the new name Amersham International plc. It was the first
privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
in which the government sold 100% of its shares in a company. The offer was 24.6 times subscribed, meaning the share price rose from 142p per share to 188p per share by closing on the first day. The government retained a special share, allowing the veto of any outsourcing attempts, until it was redeemed in 1988. In the early 1990s, the in-vitro diagnostic assay business was
divested In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...
to a joint venture with
Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
called Amerlite Diagnostics Ltd, this was later wholly acquired by Eastman Kodak and renamed Kodak Clinical Diagnostics Ltd. This business was sold by Kodak to
Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...
and became known as Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics Ltd. The business is now called
Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (now QuidelOrtho) is an in vitro diagnostics company that made products and diagnostic equipment for blood testing. Ortho served two primary industries in the medical field: clinical laboratories, by producing plat ...
Ltd. In 1997
Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfel ...
Biotech (
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
), then owned by
Pharmacia & Upjohn Pharmacia & Upjohn was a global pharmaceutical company formed by the merger of Sweden-based Pharmacia AB and the American company Upjohn in 1995. Today the remainder of the company is owned by Pfizer. In 1997, Pharmacia & Upjohn sold several b ...
, was fused with Amersham Life Science and renamed Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. The Pharmacia name of this subsidiary was later dropped when Pharmacia & Upjohn sold its share of the company to Amersham plc, and changed its name to Amersham Biosciences in 2001. In 1997, Amersham merged with
Nycomed Nycomed is a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Nycomed was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in September 2011. Production was located in Norway, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, India, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Head office ...
(
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
) to form ''Nycomed Amersham plc''. In 1999, the Nycomed Pharma subsidiary was sold to
Nordic Capital Nordic Capital is a global private equity firm focused on leveraged buyouts of established companies in Northern Europe and North America. Founded in 1989, the firm manages about $50 billion of capital, with offices in New York, London, Stockh ...
, and in 2001 ''Nycomed Amersham plc'' was renamed to ''Amersham plc''. In 2004, Amersham was acquired by the American firm
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
(GE) and incorporated into the GE Healthcare business segment. In 2005 the
Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...
named the former Amersham Laboratories, known as the Grove Centre under GE, as an historic chemical landmark for its "achievements in the fields of industrial and medical applications" over the past six decades.


Operations

GE Healthcare has a UK office in Chalfont St. Giles, near Amersham. In 2018 part of the company's Cardiff site was sold for redevelopment as operations consolidated into a smaller area. Amersham's former business segments became GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Healthcare Life Sciences. In 2020 GE Healthcare Life Sciences was acquired by
Danaher Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and ...
and renamed Cytiva.


See also

*
Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom The pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom directly employs around 73,000 people and in 2007 contributed £8.4 billion to the UK's GDP and invested a total of £3.9 billion in research and development. In 2007 exports of pharmaceutical pr ...


References


External links


2004 archive copy of Amersham plc website
{{Authority control Amersham British companies established in 1946 Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Buckinghamshire 1946 establishments in England Pharmaceutical companies established in 1946