Roche invests in new R&D centre

Pharmaceutical company Roche has announced it will be building a new multi-billion research and development centre.

The new centre, which will be built over the next ten years, will be based at the company’s Basle site in Switzerland. It will cost 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.1 billion).

Announced today (October 22), the new centre will be home to 1,900 employees in new modern “state-of-the-art” laboratories.

The centre will consist of four integrated office and laboratory buildings, timetabled to go into service between 2021 and 2022. They will contain 950 office and 950 laboratory workplaces.

“The idea behind the centre is to facilitate communication and further strengthen teamwork among research staff,” Roche said in a statement.

Explaining the plans, chief executive Severin Schwan said: "Roche is committed long-term to Switzerland and to Basel in its dual role as corporate headquarters and one of our most important sites worldwide".