Roche divides and sets out to conquer

By Kate McDonald
Wednesday, 07 February, 2007

Pharma and diagnostics giant Roche has announced a restructure of its global R&D activities, dividing its operating model into specific therapeutic fields.

In a statement, the company said that under the new model each of five disease biology areas (DBA) will be responsible for a range of activities, from R&D to strategic marketing, managing compounds from drug discovery through to medical proof of concept and through to the market

Headquarters for each of the areas will be co-located in the Swiss company's base in Basel, as well as Nutley in New Jersey and Palo Alto in California.

The five DBAs are:

Oncology, based in Nutley, New Jersey

Virology, based in Palo Alto, California

Inflammation, based in Palo Alto, California

Metabolism, based in Basel

Central nervous system, based in Basel

"Roche's R&D efforts continue to focus on clinically differentiated medicines," the company said. "This new model is designed to ensure that Roche's steadily expanding R&D operation is suitably equipped to meet increasingly complex requirements.

"By simplifying and accelerating the multiple decision-making processes involved, the model will be more efficient and effective in translating research activity in each therapeutic area into clinically differentiated medicines. It will also enable the group's growing number of development projects to be integrated more quickly."

Roche said it expects to further increase R&D staff numbers this year as well as its R&D budget, which is currently approximately six billion Swiss francs (A$6.5 bn).

In addition to Basel, Nutley and Palo Alto, therapeutic protein research will be intensified at its Penzberg site in Germany, as will R&D activities in Shanghai.

The company said its current pharmaceutical pipeline includes 61 new molecular entities and 54 additional indications in development addressing major unmet medical needs. The big movers in the near future are expected to come from the areas of oncology, autoimmune diseases and metabolic disorders.