Lilly expands UK research lab
pharmafile | July 23, 2007 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Â
Lilly has opened a new extension to its UK drug research laboratories which specialise in new medicines for neurological conditions.
The Erl Wood site in Windlesham, Surrey has been in operation for 40 years, and researchers at the site discovered Zyprexa, the schizophrenia treatment which is currently Lilly's biggest selling product.
The new buildings are part of a major investment to upgrade its research facilities in Erl Wood, an investment worth nearly £50 million over the last four years, part of a total of £196 million spent on upgrading facilities across the UK.
The labs specialise in phase II work, and its team of 600 staff are currently focused on developing drugs for Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, alcohol addiction and sleep disorders.
Opening the extended laboratories, Lilly's president and chief operating officer John Lechleiter said: "When we opened the Erl Wood research centre in 1967, it became Lilly's first research and development site outside the United States, and it remains the largest R&D site outside the US today."
Lechleiter paid tribute to the strength and diversity of the workforce at the site.
"In addition to educating excellent scientists of its own, the UK fosters a climate of learning and respect that attracts talent from around the world. More than 45 nationalities are represented among the 600-strong staff at Erl Wood - a level of diversity that makes our company better able to respond to the needs of patients as individuals."
Lilly recently acquired US biotech Hypnion, which specialises in drugs to treat insomnia and other sleep disorders, and will relocate this research from the US to Erl Wood.
The extension to the facility has confirmed the company's commitment to the UK, welcome news after Lilly closed its manufacturing plant in Basingstoke last year.
The closure, which included the loss of around 300 jobs, was part of a reorganisation and updating of Lilly's facilities for producing drugs. The company's pipeline has shifted away from dry powder and tablet-based small molecule drugs to biotech medicines which require far more complex manufacturing facilities.
