Lilly increasing investment in UK R&D
pharmafile | September 23, 2005 | News story | Research and Development |
Lilly has opened a new £26 million UK research facility, a move which underlines its commitment to developing medicines in the UK.
The new laboratories are housed at the company’s Surrey R&D site and will concentrate on developing medicines in four disease areas: Parkinson’s, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and pain syndrome.
Lord Sainsbury, the parliamentary secretary for science and innovation, opened the new laboratories which will house over 50 scientists and is part of an ongoing expansion in Lilly’s R&D in the UK.
Lilly said it is also committed to spending a further £20.5 million on developing more research facilities – currently at an early stage of planning, but believed to be in the field of biotechnology.
Lord Sainsbury said: “Lilly’s investment over the last four years has produced these world-class laboratories which will help the company in its quest to develop the next generation of breakthrough treatments.
“Its announcement of a further £20 million investment shows the strength of the UK as a place to do business and reinforces our reputation as Europe’s top location for pharmaceutical and bioscience investment.”
Industry association the ABPI has warned that the UK should not be complacent about pharma’s R&D investment in the UK, with recent figures showing investment dropped slightly in 2003.
Concerns about persistent animal rights attacks, growing competition from Eastern Europe and Asia and a dearth of homegrown scientists are all threats to continuing pharma investment in the UK.
Lilly, however, believes that by investing in state of the art research facilities it can retain and attract the best scientists from around Europe.
Dr Paul Johnson, managing director at Lilly Research Centre, commented: “Scientists are driven by the desire and passion to discover the next breakthrough treatment which revolutionises a disease area. To be able to achieve this, they need the best facilities and this is what we have now in our laboratories. This will help us retain and recruit the creme of Europe’s scientists.”
The opening of the laboratories coincided with Lilly’s announcement that it is on target to cap the cost of developing new medicines at between $800 million and $900 million within five years.
The company said the current costs of developing a new molecule – likely to reach $1.2 billion this year – was unsustainable.
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