On Jul. 12, 2005, Corixa Corp., based on First Hill in Seattle, was acquired by Glaxosmithkline (GSK) for $300 million. In 2006, the operation was relocated to Hamilton, Montana, which Corixa had acquired in 1999 from Ribi ImmunoChem.

Corixa was founded in 1994 by Mark McDade, Steven Gillis and Steve Reed as a spin-off from the University of Washington and Seattle BioMed, now known as the Center for Infectious Disease Research. Corixa had previously licensed it’s MPL adjuvant technology to several affiliates of GSK and to Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines for development in more than 20 disease targets.