British Biotech
Encyclopedia
British Biotech was a British based biotech company.

British Biotechnology Limited was founded in 1986 by former G D Searle
G. D. Searle & Company
G.D. Searle & Company or just Searle was a company focusing on life sciences, specifically pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and animal health. It is now part of Pfizer.- History :...

 managers Keith McCullagh and Brian Richards,
and was the first British biotechnology company to be publicly listed when it was floated on 1 July 1992

In 1996, despite having no compounds on or near the market, it was temporarily valued at nearly $2.5 billion , largely on the basis of its two main development drugs, marimastat
Marimastat
Marimastat was a proposed antineoplastic drug developed by British Biotech. It acted as a broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor.Marimastat performed poorly in clinical trials, and development was terminated....

 (a novel matrix metalloprotease inhibitor for cancer treatment ) and zacutex (for pancreatitis
Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It occurs when pancreatic enzymes that digest food are activated in the pancreas instead of the small intestine. It may be acute – beginning suddenly and lasting a few days, or chronic – occurring over many years...

).

In February 1998, Dr Andrew Millar was dismissed as Head of Clinical Research and went on to make allegations that "the Board were running a business plan consistent only with extreme and unfounded optimism" . These events were the subject of an inquiry by the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology in August 1998 which absolved Dr Millar of any responsibility for the company’s problems. Subsequent investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

, London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

 and the European Medicines Evaluation Agency found that British Biotech had willfully misled the public about the progress of marimastat and that unblinding data before the end of clinical trials does not necessarily invalidate the results. Marimastat underwent Phase III trials in collaboration with Schering-Plough Corporation
Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough Corporation was a United States-based pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough to form Schering-Plough. On November 4, 2009 Merck & Co...

. Further development of zacutex was abandoned due to poor clinical trial results. The corporate politics behind the downfall of British Biotech was later recorded for a BBC2 Series "Blood on The Carpet".

In 2003, British Biotech merged with RiboTargets and then into Vernalis. The British Biotech company name disappeared after this merger and remaining staff integrated into the Vernalis organisation in Winnersh
Winnersh
Winnersh is a village and civil parish, a part of the Borough of Wokingham, in the English county of Berkshire. The parish is roughly bounded on the north-east by the A329, to the north-west by the river Loddon, Old Forest Road and Simons Lane on the south east and Bearwood Road on the south west...

, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

.
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