Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (協和キリン株式会社) is a Japanese pharmaceutical and biotechnology company under the Kirin Holdings, and was among the 40 largest in the world by revenue in 2012.[4] The company is headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo and is a member of the Nikkei 225 stock index.[5]
History
The forerunner of the present-day company was called Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd (協和醱酵工業株式会社, lit. 'Coordinated Fermentation Industry Share Company') and was established on July 1, 1949. The company merged with Kirin Pharma Co., Ltd., on October 1, 2008 to form Kyowa Hakko Kirin (KHK) with plans to spin off the bio-chemical business into Kyowa Hakko Bio.[6]
On July 11, 2014, the KHK subsidiary, ProStrakan Group (based in Scotland), acquired Archimedes Pharma from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for $394 million [7]