Amgen to open Chinese R&D centre
pharmafile | September 26, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Amgen, China, R&D, Zhejiang
Amgen has signalled its intention to expand in China by announcing the opening of an R&D centre which will focus on translational research on the campus of ShanghaiTech University.
The US manufacturer’s facility – which it says will be fully operational next year – will share the space with the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies and the iHuman Institute (which focusses on human cell signalling), both of which are affiliated to the university.
“Expansion into China is a business priority for Amgen and opening this R&D centre is another clear and important step forward in Amgen’s commitment to the China market,” said Sean Harper, Amgen’s executive vice president of R&D.
ShanghaiTech has designs on being a research university: the institution is backed by Shanghai Municipal Government, which runs it, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences – and has recently been endorsed by China’s Ministry of Education.
“We aim to become one of the world’s leading antibody research institutes,” explained Professor Richard Lerner, founding director of Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies, an antibody research institute of ShanghaiTech.
“The co-location of Amgen’s China R&D centre with us will help to steer our research to be more applicable and to ultimately help patients in the fight against serious illnesses,” he added.
Finding more treatments for the burgeoning Chinese market has great commercial potential – and Amgen’s ‘good news’ story is in marked contrast to the steady stream of corruption allegations involving western pharma companies in China over the last few months.
“The combination of Amgen’s industry-leading expertise in biopharmaceuticals and the world-class academic excellence of scientists at the SIAIS and iHuman institutes of ShanghaiTech will be a very powerful force in advancing drug discovery and development,” said Mingqiang Zhang, vice president of China R&D at Amgen.
Earlier this year the US firm signed a joint venture deal with Chinese firm Zhejiang Beta Pharma to commercialise metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treatment Vectibix.
The companies hope that Vectibix (panitumumab) can make inroads into the Chinese market using Zhejiang’s established oncology sales network.
Adam Hill
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