Roche plans center in Pudong to boost medical R&D

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche announced it will build an 863 million yuan ($125.87 million) innovation center in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. Set to open in 2019, it will be the company's third-largest strategic center after those in Switzerland and the United States.

The state-of-the-art innovation center is expected to boost the city's top-level medical research and development capabilities by becoming a dream workplace for pharmaceutical scientists, said Shen Hong, head of medicinal chemistry and head of external innovation at Roche Innovation Center Shanghai, Roche R&D Center (China) Ltd.

The center's focus will be developing antibiotics, as well as medicines to treat hepatitis B, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, Shen said.