Corixa was a biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

/pharmaceutical company based in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 involved in the development of immunotherapeutics

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies. While immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are...

 to combat autoimmune disease

Autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells. The immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks it. This may be restricted to...

s, infectious disease

Infectious disease

Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

s, and cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. It was founded in 1994. It operated a laboratory and production facility in Hamilton, Montana

Hamilton, Montana

Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,705 at the 2000 census. Significant outlying population growth is shown in the area; the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for Hamilton's ZIP Code, 59840, had a population of 12,327at the 2000 census.-...

.

The name Corixa comes from the true bug (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) genus Corixa (family Corixidae, Water boatman

Water boatman

Corixidae is a family of aquatic insects in the order Hemiptera that inhabit ponds and slow moving streams, where they swim near the bottom. There are about 500 known species worldwide, in 33 genera, including the genus Sigara....

), described by Geoffroy, in 1762.

On 12 July 2005, the European pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...

 completed the acquisition of Corixa. GSK had formerly made use of the Corixa's MPL

MPL

-Astronomy and science:* Mars Polar Lander* Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light* Maximum parcel level – level in atmosphere where convective plume stops after reaching its level of neutral buoyancy...

 adjuvant

Adjuvant

An adjuvant is a pharmacological or immunological agent that modifies the effect of other agents, such as a drug or vaccine, while having few if any direct effects when given by itself...

 in some of their vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

s.

On 31 March 2006, Corixa's doors closed after over 11 years in business.