History of Clinicon
The company has long been involved in the development and production of automated analytical instruments in clinical chemistry.
The instrument development was initiated by doctors Gunnar and Ingemar Jungner. Their ideas were developed during the 1960s by a division within AGA AB (Autochem Instrument AB). The first instrument, called the Auto-Chemist, was installed in Sweden in 1968 and sales then continued in Europe, Japan and the USA. A large laboratory in the USA bought the last Auto-Chemist in 1979.
In 1978 LKB decided not to invest in clinical chemistry and therefore sold its interests in this area to Boehringer-Mannheim, a large West German reagent and pharmaceutical company. An independent company, called Clinicon, was formed.
After an interlude with an English owner, New Clinicon was born in the autumn of 1984 as a completely new Swedish-owned company, backed by two large Swedish banks and retaining many key people from the AutoChemist days.
The last Prisma was shut down in Belfast City Hospital in 1995 after nearly 10 years of operation.
The next instrument, the Prisma, grew out of the earlier experiences from AutoChemist. Development started in the early 1970s. The first instrument was installed at the Central Hospital in Västerås in 1978. A number of installations followed in Europe and the USA.
In 1975, Autochem Instrument AB was sold to LKB Produkter AB, a large Swedish company manufacturing research instruments. LKB integrated Prisma into its clinical instruments division (which included the well-known 8600 reaction rate analyzer).
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