Australia chosen for drug firm's regional hub

Drug firm Bristol-Myers Squibb has listed its Melbourne R&D facility at Noble Park as one of 14 global hubs for clinical research and development. The only other hub in the region is Singapore, with others in the US, Europe and Latin America.

"We see this as a recognition of the quality of our clinical research in the past, and also a reflection of the way our company is regionalising data management and trial reviewing," commented Jenny Stephenson, unit manager of clinical research operations at the new hub.

Although no new money is being injected directly, Stephenson noted that the facility already had nine new clinical trials slated for this year that would bring in a sizeable increase in income for the unit. Already, B-MS Australia's investment in Australian R&D has doubled to $AUS17 million in the last two years, boosting it to be one of the highest investors in clinical research in Australia.

Head of global clinical and pharmaceutical development at Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Dr Elliott Sigal, said that the company's choice of Australia acknowledged the nation's significant contributions to R&D efforts along with its potential as an innovator in medical advancement.

"This is a landmark recognition for Australia. It is a clear expression of growth and success resulting from a business environment that induces and sustains business development, as well as reinforcing world-class standards and the intellectual strength of Australian institutes, hospitals and universities," he said.

The Australian hub will become what B-MS described as a "core partner" in B-MS's global drug development program.

"We shall be conducting trials across a variety of areas, including one with a major research organisation in Canada. At this stage we are working at an international level, with Australian patents contributing to the research; that's not to say we won't be looking at running Australia-specific research at some later date," said Stephenson.

"We were chosen because of the quality and delivery of our previous work, because we have a strong business base, the quality of our infrastructure and technology, and lastly because of the quality of Australian research," she added.

The current R&D team has expanded from five in 1997 to 21 today, taking the total number of people employed in scientific-related places to more than 50.