Elan founder Mr Donald E. Panoz arrived in the Republic in 1969 with his wife, five children, $50,000 and an idea that would revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry.

His idea was to develop systems to control the way the body absorbed drugs, reducing the dosage required. Mr Panoz's drug delivery system produced its first success in 1972 with a version of the antibiotic drug tetracycline. In 1978, Elan's first research and development facility was opened in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

With the growing success of the company's delivery systems, Mr Panoz began looking for new ways to grow Elan. Around this time, the man responsible for Elan's remarkable second phase of growth became involved.

Mr Donal Geaney was a partner with a Dublin accountancy firm when Mr Panoz enlisted his help to investigate the possibility of floating Elan in the Republic.

They soon discovered that Irish investors were loath to commit to this unknown company in the risky biotechnology sector. Undeterred, the two men turned their focus to the US market. In 1981, Elan Pharmaceutical Research Corporation (EPRC) was established in Gainesville, Georgia. A year later, EPRC was floated on the Nasdaq exchange and, in 1984, Elan acquired ownership of the US company and achieved its own public listing. It raised $8.5 million (€8.68 million) and was the first Irish company to float in the US.

The 1990s were good to Elan. By this time, Mr Geaney had left accountancy firm KPMG to join Elan as executive vice-president for corporate planning. In 1995, he was appointed chief executive of the company. In the same year, the company's stock was floated on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr Geaney became chairman of the board of directors in 1997 following Mr Panoz's retirement.

Elan embarked on a series of acquisitions and strategic partnerships with other biotechnology companies to develop new drugs or market existing ones.

By the end of 1990s, Elan had established itself as the darling of the Irish business world, with revenue exceeding $1 billion in 1999. This time last year, the company, which had started with one man in a bungalow, had almost 5,000 employees in research facilities in the Republic, the US, Britain and Israel. Revenue for 2001 was more than $1.7 billion and the share price in New York was almost $63. For Elan, it appeared that the drugs did work.

The comedown, when it happened, was sudden and harsh. News that Elan had halted testing on a new drug to treat Alzheimer's disease, followed by an article in the Wall Street Journal that questioned Elan's accounting practices in the wake of the Enron scandal, hit share prices badly.

In an attempt to restore investor confidence, Mr Thomas Lynch stepped down from his post of executive vice-chairman. This followed questions about his use of off-balance sheet vehicles during his time as chief financial officer.

The indications are that the shake-up of the board has done little to reassure investors, with shares hitting an all-time low in New York this week.