page_title: Icos
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Icos / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Icos laboratories at their previous headquarters at 22021 20th Avenue SE, Bothell, WA 98021, USA.
context_page_description: Icos Corporation was an American biotechnology company and the largest biotechnology company in the U.S. state of Washington, before it was sold to Eli Lilly and Company in 2007. It was founded in 1989 by David Blech, Isaac Blech, Robert Nowinski, and George Rathmann, a pioneer in the industry and Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Amgen, Icos focused on the development of drugs to treat inflammatory disorders. During its 17-year history, the company conducted clinical trials of twelve drugs, three of which reached the last phase of clinical trials. Icos also manufactured antibodies for other biotechnology companies.
  Icos is famous for tadalafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction. This drug was discovered by GlaxoSmithKline, developed by Icos, and manufactured and marketed in partnership with Eli Lilly. Boosted by a unique advertising campaign led by the Grey Worldwide Agency, sales from Cialis allowed Icos to become profitable in 2006. Cialis was the only drug developed by the company to be approved.
context_section_description: Icos was founded in 1989 by George Rathmann, Robert Nowinski, and Christopher Henney, each of whom had previously started another biotechnology company: Rathmann had created Amgen; Nowinski had launched Genetic Systems, later sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb; and Henney co-founded Immunex, later sold to Amgen. Icos was formed with the goal of developing new drugs to treat the underlying causes of inflammatory diseases and halt the disease process in the early stages. The name Icos comes from icosahedron, a 20-sided polyhedron, which is the shape of many viruses, and was chosen because the founders originally thought retroviruses might be involved in inflammation. The founders raised $33 million in July 1990 from many investors, including Bill Gates – who at the time was the largest shareholder, with 10% of the equity. The company initially had temporary offices in downtown Seattle, but moved to Bothell in September 1990. Icos went public on June 6, 1991, raising $36 million. George Rathmann, seen as a guiding father to Icos, left the company in February 2000, and was replaced as CEO and chairman by Paul Clark, a former executive at Abbott Laboratories. A former Icos manager named short-sighted leadership by Clark as a factor in the failure of the company to develop any other successful drugs apart from Cialis.
caption: Laboratories at Icos
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-S600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:09:14 10:19:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "282", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 16, 132, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "34004", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8636", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "27/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:09:14 10:19:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:09:14 10:19:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "1150/363", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2816", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2112", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "33880", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard"}