In October Lilly announced it would be closing the Singapore R&D center, cutting about 130 jobs there, and moving the center's activity to the main office in Indianapolis. See here. Today, Lilly announced plans for a new R&D center in Shanghai, China employing 100 people initially that will focus on diabetes research. Specifically, the center will look at treatments for diabetes and its sequelae obesity and cardiovascular disease. The research will focus on differences in molecular mechanism for the disease in Chinese and other Asian populations.
The move is seen as supporting Lilly's strategic goal of increasing its footprint and market share in China - the largest emerging pharma market. Lilly, which faces the industry's steepest patent cliff in next coupel of years, will also benefit by cutting research costs through China's substantially reduced scientific labor rates.
Posted by Bruce Lehr November 2nd 2010.
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