Lilly to open diabetes research centre in China
pharmafile | November 2, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | China, Eli Lilly & Co, Lilly Research Laboratories in China, diabetes, lilly
The march of foreign pharma companies into China is to continue with Eli Lilly and Co’s opening of a diabetes research centre next year.
Based in Shanghai, where Lilly’s main operations and R&D efforts are located, the new centre will be headed by Bei Betty Zhang, vice president of research for Lilly Research Laboratories in China.
The company says incidence of diabetes has reached “epidemic proportions” in China, citing a New England Journal of Medicine article that said 92 million people in China – 10% of the adult population – are sufferers.
“We are establishing this research centre, first and foremost, to meet the growing unmet medical needs,” said Jan Lundberg, president of Lilly Research Laboratories.
Initially employing 100 scientists and support staff, its focus will be on discovering compounds with novel mechanisms of action.
Lilly hopes these will help to better control blood glucose levels without hypoglycaemia and address related conditions like cardiovascular disease and obesity.
“Given key differences in the molecular basis of diabetes in Chinese and other Asian populations, a major focus at this centre will be on discovering therapies that target critical aspects of the disease,” said David Moller, Lilly’s vice president of endocrine and cardiovascular research.
The manufacturer is also to put $2.5 million over three years into work between the China Diabetes Society and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes to support collaborative programmes.
Lilly already has manufacturing facilities in Suzhou and, earlier this year, along with Pfizer and Merck, formed the not-for-profit Asian Cancer Research Group to boost work on treating common cancers in the region.
Research from IMS Health last month suggested that growth in Chinese pharma – set to increase by over a quarter to more than $50 billion next year – would help boost the global market to $880 billion by 2011.
Adam Hill
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