Lundbeck establishes research centre in China

For the first time ever, H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck) has established its own research centre in China, getting much better access to capitalising on the many research opportunities offered there.

The new centre will improve Lundbeck’s possibilities for identifying attractive new discoveries in the Chinese and Asian research environments and it will also enhance Lundbeck’s opportunities for entering into research collaborations with businesses and universities in the region. The new centre supplements Lundbeck’s research centres in Europe and the USA, thus completing the company’s global platform for research alliances.

“The Chinese and Asian research environments have enormous momentum and offer a spate of opportunities, especially within medical research. Having a direct presence with our own research centre, we will have the best chances of achieving the huge potential available in China and Asia,” says Senior Vice President Peter Høngaard Andersen, Head of External Scientific Relations & Patents at Lundbeck.

Extensive research

Establishing the new facility in China is part of Lundbeck’s overall research and development strategy, which aims to enable the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals that target the underlying mechanisms of brain disorders and thus not only treat the symptoms more effectively but also also alter the course of the disease.

The strategy requires comprehensive research about the brain and its disease biology and mechanisms, and Lundbeck aims to solve this task by further increasing the number of its external research collaborations. Personal relations, networks and an own local presence are key prerequisites for achieving this.

Over the past ten years, Lundbeck has established and expanded its research network in China, and we are now completing these endeavours by establishing the new research centre, which will send a very strong signal about our deep commitment to the Chinese research environments and authorities. The new research centre will therefore make it much easier for us to build more research partnerships with businesses and universities in China and Asia.

“It is important to be present where the potential collaborative partners operate in order to effectively identify and pursue partnership opportunities. We have previously formed a number of good and important alliances in Asia, but our new centre will allow us to build even more partnerhips going forward,” Peter Høngaard Andersen explains.

Located amidst a powerful cluster

Initially employing more than 30 employees dedicated to medical-chemical research, the centre is located in Shanghai, which has a strong medical science tradition and is today the centre of one of China’s most powerful clusters of medical research players. Numerous international pharmaceutical groups and well-reputed universities operate out of Shanghai. Thus, the head of the research facility in Shanghai, Dr. Zheng Li, will build relationships with leading academic institutions in China and assist in establishing contact with contract research organizations throughout China.

To date, Lundbeck has outsourced various research assignments to Chinese contract research organizations. The new research centre will primarily perform tasks which have currently been outsourced to China, and the opening of the centre will therefore not have a direct consequence for Lundbeck’s other research centres. Lundbeck expects to continue to outsource certain research tasks to Chinese contract research organizations.

Collaboration with the Investment Fund for Developing Countries

Lundbeck’s Chinese research centre will be established in collaboration with the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), which has assisted Lundbeck with advisory services and funding.

The collaboration also comprises a small packaging facility for finished goods in China, which will be ready for commissioning in 2012, allowing Lundbeck to better control the supply chain in the Chinese market and, by extension, enhance the company’s reliability of supply in the region.

“China is an important market for Danish commerce and it is often decisive for success that the company establish itself in the country. We are therefore very pleased with the collaboration with Lundbeck, which allows Lundbeck to strengthen its position in China through this investment. IFU increasingly engages in collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry, an industry which is of great importance to the Danish economy”, says Finn Jønck, Managing Director, IFU.