One of the best-known names in British biotechnology - Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) – is set to disappear this month, amid allegations of broken promises by its parent AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is merging the company, which it bought for £702 million in 2006, into Medimmune, the much larger American business that it paid more than $15.2 billion for in April this year. It plans to build Medimmune into a standalone subsidiary focused entirely on developing “biologic” drugs – those produced from living material rather than conventional pharmaceuticals.
