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Our Story

Cephalon was launched in 1987 by a small team of pioneering researchers led by our founder, Chairman and CEO Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D. From the start, Cephalon was intent on finding new answers and therapies for difficult to treat illnesses.

By 1992, we conducted our first human clinical trials for our first compound. When this compound was not approved by the FDA, Cephalon experienced a major setback—an event that would have forced most start-ups to shut down.

But not Cephalon.

Rather than being defined by this setback, we used it as an opportunity to demonstrate our agility, courage and entrepreneurial nature. After uncovering a study by a European company that showed that nocturnal lab rats dosed with modafinil were wide awake in daylight, we saw the potential of modafinil as a wakefulness-promoting compound. We seized this opportunity, licensed the compound, performed the studies, and brought it to market. Today, PROVIGIL® (modafinil) remains our greatest success story.

From a biotech start-up with one compound, we’ve grown into one of the top ten biopharmaceutical companies in the world with eight proprietary products in the U.S., and more than double that many around the world. 

But it’s not just our compounds, therapeutic categories and strategic marketing partnerships that define us.  It takes more than great science and smart business to reach this level of success.  At Cephalon, we believe our success is tied to individual and collective adherence to a core set of values:  Integrity, Respect, Innovation, and Patient Focus.  Our dedicated workforce of 3,000 shows us every day that living these shared values is an integral part of the Cephalon story – from our remarkable history to our exciting future.