GSK commits to R&D facility in China

Coming on top of a long list of pharmaceutical majors investing in research facilities in China (Marketletters passim), is the world's number two drugmaker, GlaxoSmithkline, which has revealed plans to invest in building a unit in Shanghai.

"We have assigned to our center in Shanghai the responsibility to discover and develop innovative medicines not just for China but for the world," said Moncef Slaoui, chairman of GSK's pharmaceutical R&D worldwide. "That responsibility will be profound, because it will be nothing less than finding better ways to treat such terrible illnesses as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis," he added, speaking in Shagnhai.

Dr Slaoui estimated that, within a year, in-house staff in Shanghai will number 50 to 100, a figure that could grow over the next decade to more than 1,000. The operating budget in year one is expected to reach about $40.0 million and then increase in year two; capital expenditures will make the total financial commitment still greater. Recently, GSK appointed Jungwu Zang, a founding director of Shanghai's Institute of Health Sciences, as senior vice president for the new Shanghai R&D center (Marketletter June 4).