Allergan chooses UK for research base
pharmafile | June 16, 2006 | News story | |Â Â AllerganÂ
US specialist pharmaceutical company Allergan has opened its new European research and development operations in Marlow in Buckinghamshire.
Allergan is the latest of a number of pharma companies which have chosen to invest in the UK over other European companies in recent months.
The decision seems to vindicate the work of the UK government in attracting further investment from the pharma sector, in particular its trade and investment team, which worked closely with Allergan’s management in Irvine, California.
The move will see the closure of Allergan’s current R&D centre in Mougins in the South of France, with R&D operations re-located to the new site in Marlow, together with existing UK medical, sales and marketing functions, which were formerly based at nearby High Wycombe
Best known for its ophthalmology products and cosmetic injection Botox, the company’s new operations will bring an extra 150 jobs to the area.
David Endicott, Allergan’s head of Europe, Africa and Middle East, said: “The re-location of Allergan UK operations to Marlow is part of the evolution of Allergan’s business model. This is driven by the discovery, development and approval of innovative new medicines, devices and procedures as well as a deep focus on the needs of speciality physicians and their patients.”
The opening ceremony was attended by Lord Sainsbury, the government’s minister for science and innovation, who has made the pharmaceutical and biotech industry the focus of much of his work.
“Allergan’s decision to expand their commercial operations in Marlow is further evidence that the UK is increasingly viewed as the natural base for European pharmaceutical and biotechnology operations,” he said
This move reflects the efforts made by the government to provide a UK environment which offers commercial stability, fair and efficient regulation and support for innovation.
Allergan has followed similar moves by US biotech company Amgen and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, which both announced major new investments in the UK in January.
Eisai has begun work on a new 75 million pound European headquarters (including UK sales and marketing, R&D and manufacturing operations) in Hatfield which is due for completion in 2008, while Amgen is to open a new drug development centre in Uxbridge and extend its Cambridge research facilities.
Despite the run of good news in 2006, UK industry association the ABPI has continued to warn against complacency. Last year it said the most up to date figures (relating to 2003) showed a slight dip in pharmaceutical investment in the UK, the first fall for many years.
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