Cambridge Antibody Technology

Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc

Former type	Public limited company
Traded as	:  NASDAQ: CATG
Industry	Biopharmaceutical
Fate	Acquired by AstraZeneca in 2006; combined with MedImmune in 2007
Successor	MedImmune
Founded	1989 (Daly Laboratories, Babraham)
Founder	David Chiswell, Sir Greg Winter, John McCafferty, Medical Research Council
Defunct	2007 (2007)
Headquarters	Granta Park, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	David Chiswell (CEO 1996-2002) Peter Chambré (CEO 2003-2006)
Products	Adalimumab, discovery of; belimumab discovery of
Services	Therapeutic monoclonal antibody discovery and development
Revenue	£172.50m (six months ending 31 March 2006*)
Operating income	£147.25m (six months ending 31 March 2006*)
Profit	£25.25m (six months ending 31 March 2006*)
Total assets	£215.98m (six months ending 31 March 2006*)
Total equity	£180.97m (six months ending 31 March 2006*)
Owner	AstraZeneca
Number of employees	Approximately 300 (2006)
Footnotes / references *Financials for six-month period prior to acquisition by AstraZeneca were distorted by the settlement for royalties payable on Adalimumab sales

Cambridge Antibody Technology (officially Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc, informally CAT) was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. Its core focus was on antibody therapeutics, primarily using phage display and ribosome display technology.

Technology developed by CAT was used to create adalimumab, the first fully human antibody blockbuster drug. Humira, the brand name of adalimumab, is an anti-TNF antibody discovered by CAT as D2E7, then developed in the clinic and marketed by Abbott Laboratories. The company was also behind belimumab, the anti-BlyS antibody drug marketed as Benlysta and the first new approved drug for systemic lupus in more than 50 years.

Founded in 1989, CAT was acquired by AstraZeneca for £702m in 2006. AstraZeneca subsequently acquired MedImmune LLC, which it combined with CAT to form a global biologics division called MedImmune. CAT was often described as the 'jewel in the crown' of the British biotechnology industry and during the latter years of its existence was the subject of frequent acquisition speculation.

CAT was founded in 1989 by, amongst others, Dr. David Chiswell, Dr. Greg Winter and the Medical Research Council (UK) (MRC). Subsequently, in January 1990 operations began at the MRC laboratories in Cambridge. In May of that year, operations moved to the Daly Research Laboratories at Babraham Institute, Cambridge.

In 1992, CAT moved to Beech House on the Melbourn Science Park to occupy units B1 and B2. In 1993 the company expanded into unit B3, into B4 into 1995, and in 1998 into units B5, B6, B8 and B9. CAT completed the occupation of Beech House by finally occupying B7 by the late 1990s.