Mind & body, Research

Hepatitis vaccine

By Public Affairs

Building on his work at Berkeley, biochemistry professor Edward Penhoet co-founded Chiron in 1981 to develop diagnostic tools and biopharmaceuticals to tackle a range of diseases and conditions, including cancer, HIV, malaria, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. Best known for its work discovering the virus that causes hepatitis C and the subsequent development of screening methods to reduce the risk of contracting the virus via blood transfusion, the biotech powerhouse also developed the first vaccine for the hepatitis B virus. In 2006, pharmaceutical giant Novartis acquired Chiron for $5.4 billion.