Puneet Varma (Editor)

Actelion

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Type
  
public company

Headquarters
  
Allschwil, Switzerland

Number of employees
  
2,467

Founded
  
1997

Revenue
  
1.929 billion CHF

Actelion httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons00

Industry
  
Pharmaceuticals/Biotech

Founder
  
Jean-Paul Clozel, Martine Clozel, Walter Fischli, André J. Müller and Thomas Widmann

Area served
  
Research and Development of medicines for unmet medical need

Key people
  
Jean-Paul Clozel, Chief Executive Office Guy Braunstein, Global Clinical Development Otto Schwarz, Chief Operating Officer Nicholas Franco, Chief Business Officer André C. Muller, Chief Financial Officer

Stock price
  
ATLN (VTX) CHF 272.20 +1.90 (+0.70%)1 Mar, 5:32 PM GMT+1 - Disclaimer

CEO
  
Jean-Paul Clozel (Apr 2000–)

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Actelion is a pharmaceuticals and bio-technology company established in December 1997, headquartered in Allschwil near Basel in Switzerland. Its CEO and co-founder is cardiologist Jean-Paul Clozel.

Contents

Actelion specializes in orphan diseases. Actelion scientists were among the first to work in the field of endothelian receptor antagonists. The company name might be a reminder for its first product, an endothelian receptor antagonist and the verb "action", "act upon". Actelion was initially financed with venture capital provided through a syndicate including Atlas Venture, Sofinnova and HealthCap.

Actelion has 29 operative affiliates around the world, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and a number of EU countries. The Swiss affiliate is located in Baden, the German affiliate in Freiburg, the Austrian one in Vienna, the French one in Paris and the UK affiliate is located in London

In 2006, the company established the Actelion Endothelin Research Award programme which supports selected clinical research projects.

In January 2017, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would purchase the company for $30 billion. Actelion's research and development unit would also be spun off after the acquisition.

Johnson johnson pays big for swiss biotech firm actelion economy


Medicines

Actelion currently has 10 compounds in its pipeline – including 3 in late-stage development – and 4 medicines on the market for orphan diseases:

  • Tracleer (bosentan): Tracleer was the first oral treatment approved for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare, chronic, life-threatening disorder that severely compromises the functions of the lungs and heart. It is a dual endothelin receptor antagonist, see also: Endothelin receptor antagonist.
  • Zavesca (miglustat): is currently the only approved oral treatment for patients with mild to moderate type 1 Gaucher disease for whom enzyme replacement therapy is unsuitable. Type 1 Gaucher disease is a rare and debilitating metabolic disorder.
  • Ventavis (iloprost): Ventavis is indicated for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (WHO Group 1) in patients with NYHA Class III or IV symptoms.
  • Veletri (epoprostenol for injection): is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the long-term intravenous treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with the scleroderma spectrum of disease in NYHA Class III and Class IV patients who do not respond adequately to conventional therapy.

    • Pipeline

    Late-stage drugs in development by Actelion include:

  • Cadazolid for c. diff-associated diarrhea
  • Macitentan for pediatric PAH and portopulmonary hypertension
  • Ponesimod for multiple sclerosis

    • Key figures

    By January 2011, Actelion had a total of 2,467 employees, 392 in research, 640 in development and 1017 in sales and marketing. In 2010, Actelion's sales amounted to 1,929 million CHF.

    Actelion's shares have been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol ATLN) since 2000 SWX Swiss Exchange Swiss Leader Index. In September 2008, Actelion shares began trading as part of the Swiss Market Index.

    Awards

    Actelion received the "Prix Hermès de l'innovation" (Hermès Award for Innovation) in April 2011: The "European Institute for Creative Strategy and Innovation", the creator of the Prix Hermès, was founded in 2003 in France.

    The "performance report for Swiss pharma websites" awarded Actelion the first Prize in the second consecutive year:.

    References

    Actelion Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA