In 2011, Cephalong was acquired by Israeli -based company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and now operated as an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary. Long since having outgrown SBIR, as a start-up Cephalon was launched by a small team of pioneering young researchers with the vision of building an integrated biopharmaceutical company with a presence in major markets around the world. A Co-founder of the firms was Dr. Frank Baldino, Jr., a pharmacologist and former scientist with the DuPont Company, who served as the company's chairman and chief executive officer until his death in December 2010. The company's name comes from the adjective "cephalic" meaning "related to the head or brain," and it was established primarily to pursue treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Cephalon had the distinction of being one of the world's fastest-growing biopharmaceutical companies, wasamong the Fortune 1000 and a member of the S&P 500 Index, employing almost 4,000 people worldwide. The company developed for sale numerous branded and generic products totaling more than 150 products in nearly 100 countries.
