Vernalis Group was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-based

pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, 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 ...

business headquartered in

Winnersh Winnersh () is a large suburban village and civil parish in the borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England. The village is located around northwest of Wokingham town centre and around southeast of central Reading. It is roughly bounded by t ...

. The Vernalis name comes from the verb “to vernalise”, meaning nurture or develop, and is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''vernus'', meaning "of the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

". Vernalis Group was originally known as Vanguard Medica, which was founded in 1991 and based in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

. Its virtualised business model involved inlicensing of compounds in pre-clinical development from pharmaceuticals companies, running clinical trials through the use of

contract research organisations A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

and sharing in downstream royalties when drugs reached the market. In 1994, Vanguard Medica entered into a deal with

SmithKline Beecham GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, w ...

to develop SB 209509, its oral selective 5HT1D receptor agonist for the treatment of migraine, later known as VML251 and

frovatriptan Frovatriptan, sold under the brand name Frova, is a triptan medication developed by Vernalis for the treatment of migraine headaches and for short term prevention of menstrual migraine. The product is licensed to Endo Pharmaceuticals in North ...

. Vanguard Medica acquired privately held Cerebrus in 1999, which specialised in discovering and developing therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system. Vanguard Medica was renamed Vernalis Group in 2000, with Vernalis Research Limited and Vernalis Development Limited conducting its R&D efforts from its

facility. Vernalis Group was acquired in 2003 by

British Biotech British Biotech was a British-based biotechnology company founded as British Biotechnology Limited in 1986 by former G. D. Searle & Company, G D Searle managers Keith McCullagh and Brian Richards. It was the first British biotech company to be ...

, when Peter Fellner, the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Celltech Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Celltech was instrumental in changing the UK's system of technology tr ...

, reversed the company into Vernalis Group. The combined group,

Vernalis plc Vernalis plc was a UK-based pharmaceuticals business headquartered in Winnersh, with research in Cambridge, and with a Berwyn, PA, US-based commercial operation, Vernalis Therapeutics Inc., focusing on the sales and marketing of slow-release ...

, with Peter Fellner as

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and Simon Sturge, the former

of privately held RiboTargets Holdings plc, as

, had a drug on the market,

, and a drug discovery pipeline enhanced by its acquisition of RiboTargets.

References

{{reflist 1991 establishments in the United Kingdom 2003 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct pharmaceutical companies