  chiron corporation was an american multinational biotechnology firm based in emeryville, california that was acquired by novartis international ag on april 20, 2006. it had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. chiron's business and research was in three main areas: biopharmaceuticals, vaccines and blood testing. chiron's vaccines and blood testing units were been combined to form novartis vaccines and diagnostics, while chiron biopharmaceuticals were integrated into novartis pharmaceuticals. in 2014, novartis completed the sale of its blood transfusion diagnostics unit ("novartis diagnostics") to grifols, s.a. (barcelona, spain) and announced agreements for the sale of its vaccines unit ("novartis vaccines"). ==early history== chiron (  after the centaur from greek mythology) was founded in 1981 by chairman, william j. rutter, president and chief executive, professor edward penhoet, and vice president for research, pablo dt valenzuela. all were academics from the university of california; penhoet at berkeley, where he continued to lecture, and the others from san francisco. chiron formed a partnership with the swiss pharmaceutical giant, ciba-geigy ltd., through the biocine company, to use genetic engineering to develop vaccines and to treat, prevent and diagnose diseases such as aids, herpes and malaria. other partnerships included thicon inc. to develo
Biotechnology_companies_of_the_United_States Companies_based_in_Emeryville,_California Companies_disestablished_in_2006 Companies_established_in_1981 Novartis Vaccine_producers