Roche sets up R&D centre in Shanghai ( 2004-01-19 10:41) (China Daily by Chen Weihua)
Roche, one of the world's leading healthcare groups, will establish a
research and development centre in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park of Shanghai's
Pudong New Area.
It will be Roche's fifth R&D centre in the world and the first in a
developing country, said Andreas Tschirky, who is expected to become the
managing director of the R&D centre.
It will also be the first wholly owned and operated R&D centre set up in
Shanghai by a multinational pharmaceutical company. Roche's other four R&D
sites are in the US, Germany and its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
"For Roche, the establishment of the R&D centre in Shanghai means we are
entering a new field in China -- in addition to our production facilities in
Shanghai and our nationwide marketing and sales organization," said Roche
Pharmaceuticals Shanghai Ltd General Manager Antonio Chow.
"For China, this investment is a big step towards making Shanghai a centre
for pharmaceutical research and biotechnology through transfers of international
expertise, competence and knowledge."
He added that Roche's prescription medicine business is expected to double in
China in the coming five years to 2 billion yuan (US$240 million).
Scheduled to be fully operational by the end of the year, the Shanghai
R&D facility will be staffed by 40 chemists.
After the R&D centre gains more experience within the next five years, it
will become more active in participating in Roche's global projects, according
to Chow. These may include projects of special concern to China, such as AIDS
and hepatitis B.
Traditional Chinese medicine will also be a key area of research in the
future, according to Andreas Tschirky, who has been responsible for Roche's
R&D in China for the last few years.
Roche Group Research President Jonathan Knowles was quoted by company
officials as saying that China is a country with excellent resources and
internationally trained biomedical scientists.
The creation of the fifth research site in the Roche Pharmaceutical Division
represents a key strategic decision that will allow Roche to continue to enhance
its capabilities in medicinal chemistry on a global level.
"Looking at the long term, our aim is for the group in Shanghai to discover
and optimize new molecules -- active ingredients of potential new drugs -- which
address important unmet medical needs and can be marketed worldwide, including
China," Knowles was quoted as saying.
Roche has been active in China for the last decade, with both core businesses
-- diagnostics and pharmaceuticals -- represented. It is one of the leading
suppliers of prescription medicines in China. The Roche Group employs a total of
1,200 people in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In the R&D area, it is collaborating with the Chinese National Genome
Centres in Shanghai and Beijing on genetic epidemiology studies into genetic
predispositions to conditions such as diabetes and Alzheimer's
disease.
