Tocris History
Working with scientists for over 25 years
Tocris Bioscience is the trading name for the companies in the Tocris Cookson Group, consisting of Tocris Cookson Ltd., which is privately held and headquartered in Bristol, UK and its wholly owned US subsidiary Tocris Cookson Inc., located in St. Louis MO, USA. There are approximately 50 employees in the Group worldwide, operating out of two sites in the UK and one in the US.
Tocris Cookson Ltd was incorporated in the UK in July 1994 as the result of a merger between Tocris Neuramin Ltd of Bristol, UK and Cookson Chemicals Ltd of Southampton, UK.
Key Dates
| 1982 | Tocris Neuramin founded by Professor Jeff Watkins |
| 1985 | Cookson Chemicals founded by Professor Richard Cookson |
| 1994 | Merger of the two creates Tocris Cookson |
| 1995 | US subsidiary Tocris Cookson Inc., opens |
| 2002 | Tocris receives Queen's Award for Enterprise |
| 2005 | Tocris Bioscience brand launched |
| 2006 | Founders retire – MBO |
| 2008 | Target Detective Launched |
Tocris Neuramin was founded in 1982 by Professor Jeff Watkins of the Pharmacology Department in the University of Bristol, UK, to make standard research tools and novel probes in the field of glutamate research.
Cookson Chemicals was formed in 1985 by Richard Cookson, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK. Cookson Chemicals provided custom synthesis services as well as a range of neurochemicals to the pharmaceutical and allied industries.
In October 2005 Tocris announced the opening of new laboratories at the IO Centre, Bristol (UK). At this time, to reflect the increasingly biological nature of our products and customer base our trading name changed to Tocris Bioscience.
In January 2007 Tocris Bioscience announced the successful completion of a $40 million management buy out (MBO) deal, providing Tocris with the ability and freedom to further develop its existing business areas and to offer additional products and services to its international client base.
Today, Tocris Bioscience provides world class custom synthesis, chemical sourcing and chemical analysis services to customers in major pharmaceutical companies, universities and research institutes worldwide.