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Immunex Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufacturers, and markets therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders. The company more than doubled its revenue base between and as a result of a merger with Lederle pharmaceutical units of American Cyanamid Company.

However, in the mids, Immunex was still trying to achieve profitability after investing heavily in research and development since its inception in Immunex is best associated with the development of products such as Enbrel, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; Novantrone, used to treat acute nonlymphocytic leukemia and pain associated with prostate cancer; and Leukine, for use in bone marrow transplant patients. In July , Immunex was bought by Amgen Inc.

Immunex was formed during the start of the biotechnology craze of the early s. Biotechnology, as it was known in the mids, was born in the early s, when the structure of DNA was discovered; that revelation lead to the understanding of the process by which proteins are formed. Subsequent breakthroughs, particularly in the early s, showed that it was possible to genetically alter microorganisms and, importantly, produce mass amounts of proteins that naturally occurred only in small quantities.

A handful of companies pioneered the commercial biotechnology industry during the middle and late s, but it was not until the early s that a horde of competitors jumped into the game. The pivotal turning point came when the U. Supreme Court ruled that genetically engineered bacterium could be patented. For many, that ruling suggested the possibility of fantastic profits for biotech innovators. Eager to make their mark in the burgeoning commercial biotechnology industry were scientists Steven Gillis and Christopher Henney.

Henney, a Ph. Gillis also had a doctorate--in biological sciences from Dartmouth College--and was recognized for his contributions related to immunology research. Gillis and Henney believed that they possessed the expertise to develop a method of producing large quantities of certain hormones that showed promise in fighting infection.

At the urging of Seattle patent attorney Jim Uhlir, they formed Immunex as a means of developing and commercializing their techniques and drugs. Joining the duo was Steve Duzan, an entrepreneur who owned an industrial ice-making machine business at the time.

Duzan had become intrigued by the emerging biotechnology industry after being introduced to Gillis and Henney. Although prior to joining their startup effort, Duzan had virtually no experience in medical-related industries and did know how to raise investment capital.

He was, however, known as a tenacious, hard-driving manager. Duzan overhauled that company's manufacturing operations and managed to improve its profitability. Duzan was looking for another company to buy when he met Gillis and Henney. Instead, he helped them to form a completely new company called Immunex. Gillis and Henney, naturally, managed the scientific side of the business, while Duzan went to work finding capital to fund Immunex's cash-hungry research and development operations.

As it turned out, many of the entrepreneurial skills that Duzan had learned in his previous business exploits were well suited to the seat-of-the-pants biotechnology sector. For the first six months, Duzan worked without a salary while he scrambled to secure investors.

And then he would double it. And then he would go out and get it. While Duzan labored to find cash to fuel Immunex's product development engine, Gillis and Henney oversaw an ambitious research effort to generate various immune system stimulants and related technologies. Their goal was to develop a breakthrough drug, or drugs, that would allow Immunex to become a full-fledged pharmaceutical company that developed and manufactured its own products.

But, that pivotal product proved elusive for Immunex's research team. The company's pursuits did succeed, however, in producing a number of valuable technologies and products that earned the company respect in the biotechnology industry. Specifically, Immunex discovered and cloned a long list of genes producing substances that could work in the human body to stimulate various blood cells to fight cancer, heal wounds, and prevent auto-immune diseases like arthritis and diabetes. Those products were essentially immune system proteins that acted as hormones in the body, with each hormone commanding only specific types of cells.

Each class of cells could be stimulated to respond with antibodies, enzymes, and other substances that multiplied and attacked infection. For example, Immunex's centerpiece drug, GM-CSF marketed as Leukine , was a blood-growth stimulator that enhanced the body's production of white blood cells. Leukine could fight infection in cancer patients whose white blood cells had been destroyed during bone marrow transplants. It also had potential applications related to chemotherapy. Although Immunex was at the technological forefront in its niche, the company faced numerous roadblocks to success.

To shepherd a drug through the intimidating FDA gamut, a company typically had to invest millions of dollars completing its own tests and striving to comply with Federal regulations. The obvious risk was that the drug would fail to meet FDA approval and the company would be stuck with the loss. For a smaller company like Immunex, failure could be virtually devastating.

To help bring their drugs and technologies to market, therefore, many biotech startups sought other avenues to profit. Common routes included selling or licensing proprietary technology to large pharmaceutical companies, or partnering with bigger competitors to develop and market new drugs. Immunex managed to stay solvent and continued to fund its research and development arm during the s, in essence by selling its technology to companies that had the financial backing to take it to market.

Some analysts criticized the strategy because it effectively turned Immunex into a "research boutique" and represented a diversion from the company's goal of becoming a true pharmaceutical company that marketed its own drugs. But, the tactic was necessary to keep the company afloat given the volatile environment of the biotechnology industry. A critical juncture for the company came in , shortly after the company had gone public to raise cash through an initial public stock offering.

The price remained suppressed while biotech investors questioned the viability of the entire industry. Unable to generate acceptable proceeds from the sale of more stock, Duzan arranged a number of deals that benefited Immunex. He negotiated with some large American and European drug companies, selling marketing and manufacturing rights to most of the major immune-system stimulants that it had cloned.

Although forfeiting company rights to some of that technology, Duzan was credited with swinging deals that, in the long term, worked in Immunex's favor. That move later made it possible for Immunex to become a true pharmaceutical company, rather than just a research lab that collected royalties from its inventions.

Throughout the s, Immunex developed a number of promising technologies, most of which it sold or licensed to other companies. Profits remained elusive, however, as the company continued to pour millions into research and development. Investors had generally been patient with Immunex because the company had been so successful at developing new products.

Investor patience gradually wore thin, as they watched the company spend millions without ever successfully taking a drug to market. Immunex managed to post meager profits in and , but those surpluses were insignificant compared to big losses in other years. Despite ongoing losses, it seemed as though Immunex had turned the corner toward profitability going into the early s. In a series of bold and complex deals initiated in , Duzan reacquired, sold, and swapped the rights to a number of its drugs.

The end result was that Immunex, by , was in a position to possibly begin marketing its own technology. Shortly after the approval, Immunex was selling Leukine through a member sales team organized to market the product to oncology specialists. At the same time, Immunex continued to invest millions of dollars into new drugs. Chief among its research projects in the early s was Pixie , a synthetic molecule that was designed to incorporate the properties of Leukine and Immunex's Interleukin 3 a cancer-fighting compound.

Duzan hoped to sell that and other drugs through its own sales force. Despite notable successes during the late s and early s, Immunex continued to disappoint some analysts and investors.

The company had hoped to offset that deficit with increased sales of Leukine, but its marketing effort failed to live up to some analysts' hopes. The problem was partially attributable to a product similar to Leukine that was introduced by competitor Amgen. Amgen received approval for its drug, Neupogen, in Whereas Leukine had been approved for the bone marrow transplant market, Neupogen was approved for use in the much larger chemotherapy market. Encountering a fate similar to that experienced by many other biotech companies, Immunex was bought out.

In June , American Cyanamid purchased the company and merged it with its Lederle Oncology unit to form a new, publicly traded company still known as Immunex, and headquartered in Seattle. Lederle Oncology was a leader in the immunology industry and had about a half dozen proprietary products in its drug portfolio. Lederle, with its more established marketing network, seemed like a natural complement to Immunex's powerful research operations. The merger initially failed to produce the desired results, however, because Lederle's products did not sell as well as expected.

That problem, combined with less-than-stellar gains with Leukine, created investor disappointment with Immunex. Frustrated, American Cyanamid brought in a new chief executive to replace Duzan, who had been accused of alienating Wall Street with his brusque nature and questionable management decisions regarding Leukine.