Cephalon, Inc.

Cephalon seeks to discover, develop and market innovative products to treat neurological disorders, sleep disorders and cancer. The company is committed to providing patients and the medical community with novel therapies to treat unmet medical conditions through its proprietary research programs and by acquiring promising products for clinical development and commercial sale.

Research Strategy

Cephalon's research strategy has focused on understanding the cellular mechanisms of cell survival and cell death. This understanding may allow medicinal chemical approaches toward creating novel, small, orally active, synthetic molecules which would facilitate the death of tumor cells leading to new therapies in oncology or would cross the blood-brain barrier (which prevents the free passage of many molecules between the bloodstream and the central nervous system, "CNS") and enhance the survival of neurons, thereby intervening in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders. Cephalon believes that its multidisciplinary technology approach facilitates the development of a portfolio of potential products for the treatment of neurological disorders which involve neuronal death such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and stroke, and oncological disorders such as prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and a variety of other cancers. Cephalon's research programs currently consist of four core technology areas: neurotrophic factors, gene transcription regulators, signal transduction modulators and protease inhibitors.

Business Strategy

Cephalon's business strategy is to pursue the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic products for the treatment of neurological diseases, sleep disorders and cancer. Cephalon's success to date has been achieved by following a strategy to manage the extraordinary risks inherent in drug development. This strategy includes forming alliances with other pharmaceutical companies where collaborations can provide strategic advantages in technological, financial, marketing, manufacturing and other areas. The company seeks to retain the rights to copromote or otherwise share in the marketing of products, particularly to neurologists, and to selectively in-license late stage compounds for development which are complementary to those in its own research and development pipeline.