Roche expanding R&D site in Germany

Roche says it is to invest heavily in expanding its research center inPenzberg, Upper Bavaria, Germany. The additional facilities are being built at a cost of 170 million Deutschemarks ($89.9 million) and will create 300 additional R&D jobs for the group's pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions.

The company claims that the project is "another step in Roche's strategy to develop Penzberg as a high-tech site," which will assume a leading role in the group's overall R&D strategy. When the new research buildings are completed, in 2002, all activities at Roche's existing site in Tutzing will be relocated to Penzberg.

Roche has major pharmaceutical research centers in Switzerland, Japan, the USA and the UK, as well as in Penzberg. The group's overall R&D units employ roughly 7,500 people with an annual budget of nearly 3 billion Swiss francs.