In 1921 in Karlovac, the companies "Chinoin" from Budapest and "Isis" from Zagreb found "Kastel", the predecessor of today's PLIVA. In 1941, the company became PLIVA, and in 1952 the PLIVA Research Institute was founded. In 1980, PLIVA's original macrolide antibiotic - azithromycin was patented and protected - and was then licensed out to Pfizer in 1986 for sale in the US and Western Europe. Since its 1996 listing on the London and Zagreb Stock Exchanges, PLIVA has been internationalising its business and implementing a global strategy. This included the acquisition of a majority stake of Polfa - Krakow (now known as PLIVA Krakow) in 1997, the 1999 acquisitions of FARMACOM, MIXIS Genetics, and Lachema (today - PLIVA Lachema), the acquisitions of Dominion in 2000, AWD.pharma in 2001, 2K Pharmaceuticals and Sidmak Laboratories (now PLIVA, Inc.) in 2002, and Spanish pharmaceutical company EDIGEN in 2003. In 2002, PLIVA's new Research Institute opened.