| Type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Traded as | LSE: ABC |
| Industry | Biotech, Life Sciences |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Key people | Jonathan Milner CEO |
| Products | Research antibodies |
| Revenue | £56.8m (2009)[1] |
| Profit | £16.3m (2009)[2] |
| Employees | over 237 (2009) |
| Website | www.abcam.com |
Abcam plc is a UK biotech company based in the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England, with offices in Boston MA, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The premise of the company was incubated from a laboratory in the University of Cambridge, UK in 1998. The principal founder Jonathan Milner was working as a Post-Doctoral researcher studying the newly discovered breast cancer protein BRCA2 in Professor Tony Kouzarides' laboratory. The project slowed because of problems finding quality antibody reagents that had honest and up to date information about their uses and limitations. This scenario provided the motivation to form an on-line service, that would help themselves and researchers across the globe.
The company was founded by David Cleevely, Jonathan Milner, and Tony Kouzarides in 1998, and has become one of the largest retailers of research antibodies in the world. Kouzarides invented the name, which is a portmanteau of antibody (ab) and Cambridge (cam). The idea was that Abcam would not only sell antibodies, but provide a high degree of scientific information and characterisation information associated with each antibody, such as Western blot images, and immunohistochemistry.
Since its inception in 1998, the company has diversified from carrying only antibodies and now supplies antibody-related products such as peptides and equipment.
Abcam is very much a life-science e-commerce company which facilitates public customer feedback on products using reviews and ratings which customers can submit. This has given rise to the nickname "the Amazon of antibodies"[3][4]
Abcam is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In May 2011 Abcam announced the acquisition of MitoSciences. MitoSciences was a privately held biotech company based in Eugene, Oregon (US). The Company produce and distribute immunoassay platforms and high performance monoclonal antibodies. It was founded in 2004 with the mission of advancing mitochondrial research and developing products that support critical research in cancer, neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders.