‘Bioscience is cornerstone’ of Alderley Park
pharmafile | May 12, 2014 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AZ, AstraZeneca, alderley, msp, research
Manchester Science Parks (MSP), the new owners of the 400-acre Alderley Park facility, has pledged to keep its activities “at the forefront of bioscience innovation”.
AstraZeneca sold its former R&D site in Cheshire in March to the public-private consortium for an undisclosed sum.
The sale came a year after the company dropped the bombshell that it was closing R&D operations there – with the loss of 600 jobs – as part of a global restructure which will see it move into a new £330 million HQ in Cambridge by 2016.
Since then, AstraZeneca has been thrust into the spotlight by Pfizer’s £63 billion bid for the company.
“We have a unique opportunity to create a diverse innovative community of bioscience businesses which is internationally respected for the quality of its work and as a sustainable business model,” says Chris Oglesby, chairman of MSP.
“With our partners and the community of exceptional scientists who choose to remain at the park, we will build a flagship for a vibrant life sciences industry in the North of England,” he goes on.
AstraZeneca is retaining 700 employees on the site, and is matching MSP’s £5m investment in the ‘Alderley Park Springboard Fund’ that will help new businesses starting up there.
Mene Pangalos, AstraZeneca’s executive VP of innovative medicines and early development, says: “We are delighted that our legacy of scientific innovation stretching back many decades will be built upon by Manchester Science Parks, helping ensure the UK remains a global leader in life sciences.”
This is a contentious issue at present, since the Wellcome Trust has become the latest influential voice to warn that Pfizer’s potential takeover of AstraZeneca could lead to major job losses and imperil the future of medical science in Britain.
MSP is majority-owned by property company Bruntwood, with the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester and Salford City councils the other shareholders.
The acquisition is funded by Bruntwood, MSP and Cheshire East Council, with the lion’s share coming from the company.
AstraZeneca took a pre-tax hit of $275 million in non-core R&D expenses in the first quarter of 2014, part of the cost associated with the group’s restructure, and will phase the handover of Alderley Park over the next three years.
The pharma group last year hired BioCity Nottingham, which specialises in setting up life sciences businesses, to establish a new centre for bioscience companies at the site.
Adam Hill
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