AstraZeneca names Shanghai site as initial base for new Innovation Centre China

AstraZeneca has named Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park as the initial base for its new Innovation Centre China (ICC).

The ICC, announced in May 2006 as part of a larger US$100m r&d investment package, is the primary focus of AstraZeneca's latest investment in China. It will focus on the benefit and value of innovative medicines for Chinese patients, initially concentrating on cancer through the development of knowledge about Chinese patients, biomarkers and genetics.

The facility will open in mid-2007 and provide a base to build capabilities and skills in China prior to the establishment of a permanent state-of-the-art site. AstraZeneca has already initiated a comprehensive search for a permanent location for the ICC.

'Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park offers us great facilities and an ideal base from which to intensify recruitment of the 70-plus scientists and physicians specialising in translational science who will progress the ICC's early and later stage research projects. Initially these projects will be specific to cancer, a major cause of death in China,' said Xiaolin Zhang, head of the ICC.

Recruitment of these scientists and physicians is already underway. They will join the 2,900 already employed by AstraZeneca in China, which has a network of more than 20 marketing and sales offices; a manufacturing site at Wuxi, Jiangsu Province inaugurated in 2001; and clinical research facilities.

'As the leading ethical pharmaceutical company in the country, we fully support China's national focus on innovation by substantially increasing our r&d investment, both in financial terms and in terms of scientific collaboration,' said James Ward-Lilley, president of AstraZeneca China. 'We believe the research work at ICC will address the area of significant unmet need, and will bring novel therapy to Chinese patients.'