Company Overview

The Celera Group (formerly Celera Genomics Group) traces its roots back to 1995, when researcher Craig Venter of The Institute for Genomic Research sequenced the first complete genome of a living organism, a bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae. That achievement led Venter to develop a technique for rapidly sequencing genes, which became the basis for Celera, a company that Venter founded in 1998 along with the Applera Corporation. (Today, Celera is a business unit of Applera, along with Celera Diagnostics, which works hand-in-hand with Celera Group.) Since that time, Celera has made a business of selling genetic coding information and licensing the software to manage and analyze gene sequences to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Celera has also restructured its business to focus on drug discovery and development. The company has made developing antibody treatments in the oncology therapeutic class a goal; it is currently trying to develop treatments for pancreatic cancer. Company revenue has been trending downward, but it appears it may be reversing direction. Revenue grew substantially in fiscal 2006, and the company’s decision to pursue strategic alliances as it has with Abbott, and develop new diagnostic tests and therapies, seems productive.