 | |
| Formerly | The Radiochemical Centre at Amersham The Radiochemical Centre Ltd Amersham International plc |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| LSE: AMSM (no longer traded) | |
| Industry | Health care |
| Founded | 1946; 79 years ago (1946) |
| Defunct | 2003; 22 years ago (2003) |
| Fate | Acquired byGE Healthcare |
| Headquarters | Amersham,, |
| Parent | GE HealthCare  |
| Website | www |
Amersham plc was a manufacturer ofradiopharmaceutical products, to be used in diagnostic and therapeuticnuclear medicine procedures. The company becameGE Healthcare following a takeover in 2003, which was based at the original site inAmersham,Buckinghamshire until 2016, when the headquarters moved toChicago.[1]
Chilcote House in Little Chalfont near Amersham was first used for extraction ofradium from radium concentrates in 1940, under Walter Patrick Grove. Over the next four years over 500kilograms ofradium bromide was produced, to be used to make luminous dials and instruments.[2] In 1946 the facility was taken over by theMinistry of Supply and it became known as the "national centre for the processing and distribution of radium, radon and artificial radioactive substances for scientific, medical and industrial purposes".[3] With a new focus on healthcare and industrial applications, the site was expanded, and by 1949 when the name changed to "The Radiochemical Centre (TRC), Amersham", the production included radium gas capsules for cancer treatment andcarbon-14. The following year it became an outstation of theAtomic Energy Research Establishment (UKAERA) at Harwell, processing materials produced in its reactors.[2][4]
By the 1960s, TRC had over 1,000 catalogue items, using over 100 isotopes and exporting to 60 countries. Acyclotron was installed, the first for medical isotope production.[3] With the restructuring of the UKAERA in 1971, TRC became alimited company.[5] By this time TRC had several international subsidiaries for example Amersham Buchler GmbH & Co. KG a Joint Venture with the Quinine Factory Buchler GmbH in Braunschweig (West-Germany). In 1976 work began on a second production site inCardiff.
The Radiochemical Centre Limited became Amersham International Limited in 1981 and was the first company to be privatised by the Thatcher Government[2] in 1982 under the new name Amersham International plc.[4] It was the firstprivatisation in which the government sold 100% of its shares in a company. The offer was 24.6 times subscribed, meaning the share price rose from 142p per share to 188p per share by closing on the first day.[6] The government retained a special share, allowing the veto of any outsourcing attempts, until it was redeemed in 1988.
In the early 1990s, the in-vitro diagnostic assay business wasdivested to a joint venture withEastman Kodak called Amerlite Diagnostics Ltd, this was later wholly acquired by Eastman Kodak and renamed Kodak Clinical Diagnostics Ltd. This business was sold by Kodak toJohnson & Johnson and became known as Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics Ltd. The business is now calledOrtho-Clinical Diagnostics Ltd.
In 1997Pharmacia Biotech (Sweden), then owned byPharmacia & Upjohn, was fused with Amersham Life Science and renamed Amersham Pharmacia Biotech.[7] The Pharmacia name of this subsidiary was later dropped when Pharmacia & Upjohn sold its share of the company to Amersham plc, and changed its name to Amersham Biosciences in 2001.
In 1997, Amersham merged withNycomed (Norway)[7] to formNycomed Amersham plc. In 1999, the Nycomed Pharma subsidiary was sold toNordic Capital,[8] and in 2001Nycomed Amersham plc was renamed toAmersham plc.[9]
In 2004, Amersham was acquired by the American firmGeneral Electric (GE) and incorporated into theGE Healthcare business segment.[10]
In 2005 theRoyal Society of Chemistry named the former Amersham Laboratories, known as the Grove Centre under GE, as an historic chemical landmark for its "achievements in the fields of industrial and medical applications" over the past six decades.[11][12]
GE Healthcare has a UK office in Chalfont St. Giles, near Amersham.
In 2018 part of the company's 30-acre (12 ha) Cardiff site was sold for redevelopment as operations consolidated into a smaller area.[13]
Amersham's former business segments becameGE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Healthcare Life Sciences. In 2020 GE Healthcare Life Sciences was acquired byDanaher Corporation and renamed Cytiva.[14]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
