This article needs to be updated.(August 2017) |
Type | S.A |
---|---|
Industry | Biotechnology Pharmaceutical |
Founded | 1906 |
Founder | Cesare Serono |
Defunct | 2006 |
Fate | Acquired by Merck Group |
Successor | Merck Serono |
Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland (former Headquarters) |
Key people | Claudio Bertarelli (Chairman) Ernesto Bertarelli (CEO) |
Products | Rebif Gonal-f Luveris Ovidrel/Ovitrelle Serostim Saizen Zorbtive Raptiva |
Parent | Merck Group |
Serono was a biotechnology company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was acquired by the German pharmaceutical company Merck in 2006. The company was founded as the Serono Pharmacological Institute by Cesare Serono in 1906 in Rome, Italy. A key step in its development was the discovery of a method of extracting urinary gonadotropins by Dr. Piero Donini. Serono was incorporated in 1987 and the holding company, Ares-Serono S.A., changed its name to Serono S.A. in May 2000.
Serono develops and markets pharmaceuticals in the fields of reproductive health, multiple sclerosis, growth & metabolism and dermatology. [1]
The eight biotechnology products are available in four core therapeutic areas: neurology for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, reproductive health for treatments of infertility, dermatology, where Serono has launched biologics in Europe for moderate-to-severe psoriasis, and growth and metabolism for treatments for HIV-associated wasting and growth deficiencies.
The company also conducts research in oncology and autoimmune diseases. Through the acquisition in 1997 of GBRI from GlaxoWelcome, becoming its Geneva based research institute named SPRI, and the Manteia Predictive Medicine spin-off, Serono also nursed the emergence of now a commercial leading massive parallel sequencing technology.
36% of Serono was sold to Merck KGaA in Sept. 2006 for €10.6 billion; Merck KGaA paid CHF 1,100 for each share. The new entity, which merges Serono with Merck's Ethicals division, is called Merck Serono. Its headquarters was in Geneva, within the new Serono facilities. The US operations remain near Boston and was renamed here EMD Serono due to trademark issues with Merck & Co./MSD. The process of merging started in January 2007 after various business regulatory reviews and phases were complete. Until that time, Serono and Merck KGaA operated as separate entities. The new, combined entity, Merck Serono is the size of other large biotechs. In 2011, a decision was made to close the Geneva headquarters and move the headquarters to Darmstadt, Germany resulting in job losses to most of the employees in Geneva.
Serono operated in 44 countries, with manufacturing facilities in eight countries and sales in over 90 countries. Main manufacturing sites were in Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France; a fifth facility in Israel was closed in 2004 owing to its obsolescence. Research and development facilities were maintained in Geneva, Switzerland, Boston, USA, and Ivrea, Italy. It employed over 4,750 people with worldwide revenues of USD 2,586.4 million (2005). It had eight biotechnology products on the market, and more than 25 ongoing preclinical and clinical development projects at the end of 2005. Serono Headquarters and the Geneva research site moved to a brand new campus (Horizon Secheron) in the heart of Geneva in 2006. This facility and the headquarters were closed by Merck KGaA in 2013. The building was sold back to Berterelli family.
In 2005, Serono agreed to a $704 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve civil and criminal allegations that the company engaged in a fraudulent scheme to promote the drug Serostim for off-label uses and paid out illegal kickbacks for prescribing the drug in violation of the False Claims Act. [2] The settlement is, to date, the ninth largest pharmaceutical settlement in U.S. history.
Serono provides Fertility LifeLines as a free and confidential source of information to infertility patients. [3]
The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and present in 66 countries. The group includes around 250 companies; the main company is Merck KGaA in Germany. The company is divided into three business lines: Healthcare, Life Sciences and Electronics. Merck was founded in 1668 and is the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company, as well as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Ernesto Silvio Maurizio Bertarelli is an Italian-born Swiss billionaire businessman and philanthropist.
Chiron Corporation was an American multinational biotechnology firm founded in 1981, based in Emeryville, California, that was acquired by Novartis on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. Chiron's business and research was in three main areas: biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and blood testing. Chiron's vaccines and blood testing units were combined to form Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, while Chiron BioPharmaceuticals was integrated into Novartis Pharmaceuticals. In 2014, Novartis completed the sale of its blood transfusion diagnostics unit to Grifols and announced agreements for the sale of its vaccines unit to GlaxoSmithKline.
Cetuximab, sold under the brand name Erbitux, is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor medication used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Cetuximab is a chimeric (mouse/human) monoclonal antibody given by intravenous infusion.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company based in Hyderabad. The company was founded by Kallam Anji Reddy, who previously worked in the mentor institute Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited. Dr. Reddy's manufactures and markets a wide range of pharmaceuticals in India and overseas. The company has over 190 medications, 60 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for drug manufacture, diagnostic kits, critical care, and biotechnology.
Serostim is Serono's brand name prescription drug form of synthetic growth hormone, marketed for HIV-associated wasting.
Cladribine, sold under the brand name Leustatin, among others, is a medication used to treat hairy cell leukemia and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Sigma-Aldrich is an American chemical, life science, and biotechnology company owned by the multinational chemical conglomerate Merck Group.
Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a Swiss multinational biopharmaceutical company specialising in areas such as reproductive health, maternal health, gastroenterology and urology. Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 years.
Almirall, S.A. is a Spanish pharmaceutical company, with headquarters in Barcelona, founded in 1943.
Saizen is a commercial preparation of synthetic somatropin. Manufactured by Merck Serono, Saizen is produced by recombinant DNA technology from a mammalian cell line that was modified by the addition of the human GH gene, resulting in an identical 191-amino acid sequence and structure.
Genset, a biotechnology company, was established in 1989 in Paris, France with Pascal Brandys as its first president.
Matuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of cancer. It binds to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with high affinity. The mouse monoclonal antibody (mAb425) from which matuzumab was developed at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Merck Serono is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and a brand and division of Merck focused on biopharmaceuticals.
Tecemotide is a synthetic lipopeptide that is used as antigen in an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine. The investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine is designed to induce a cellular immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1, a glycoprotein antigen that is widely over-expressed on common cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. The cellular immune response may lead to a rejection of tumor tissue expressing the MUC1 antigen.
Atacicept is a recombinant fusion protein designed to inhibit B cells, thereby suppressing autoimmune disease. The designer protein combines the binding site for two cytokines that regulate maturation, function, and survival of B cells - B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) and A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), with the constant region of immunoglobin. Atacicept blocks activation of B cells by the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 13B, a transmembrane receptor protein found predominantly on the surface of B cells. Like the monoclonal antibody belimumab, atacicept blocks the binding of BLyS, but it also blocks APRIL. Binding of these TACI ligands induces proliferation, activation, and longevity of B cells and thus their production of autoantibodies. Atacicept is thought to selectively impair mature B cells and plasma cells with less impact on progenitor cells and memory B cells.
Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, generally ranking in the global top five by revenue.
The pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people. It contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and contributes to 30% of the country's exports. In 2017 about 30% of Swiss exports were chemical products. In the same year Switzerland was the second largest exporter of packaged medicine in the world, with about 11% of the global total, worth $36.5 billion.
The Campus Biotech is a Swiss institution hosting research institutes and biotechnology companies. The Campus Biotech is located in the former Merck Serono building, in Geneva (Switzerland).
Theramex is a pharmaceutical company based in London which produces women's health products focusing on contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis. It was established in 2018 with the acquisition of some of the assets of Teva Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients relating to Theramex Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company which was based in Monaco. Brands include Ovaleap, Zoely, Seasonique, Actonel, Estreva and Lutenyl. It made an agreement with TherapeuticsMD in 2019 for exclusive licensing and supply rights to Bijuva and Imvexxy outside of the USA, Canada and Israel for which it paid a license fee of $15.5 million. In 2021, Theramex launched Livogiva, Lundeos (Osteoporosis) and Bijuva (Menopause). That same year Theramex entered Consumer Healthcare Market with Femarelle, a non-hormonal option to treat menopause symptoms.