The global president of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot, has recognized the potential of Spain, and specifically Barcelona, ??to be at the top of the world in biomedical research, within the framework of the presentation of its new European R&D hub in the capital , in which they plan to invest 800 million euros in five years and hire 1,000 people “as long as the situation in the country remains stable.”
In an interview with Efe, Soriot insisted that the Spanish R&D ecosystem is “first class” and has sufficient potential to become a global health research hub. “Multidisciplinary research centers are in places like Boston or San Francisco, where, for example, 30 years ago there was no developed scientific industry. This is the opportunity that Barcelona has to attract more companies and build an ecosystem”.
The new European hub in Barcelona will become the group’s largest effort in Spain: it will be the company’s first to integrate the innovative capabilities of AstraZeneca and Alexion (the group’s rare disease division) in a single space and will focus mainly on oncology cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, respiratory diseases and vaccines, as well as rare diseases.
Rick R. Suárez, president of AstraZeneca in Spain, pointed out in the presentation that the group “focuses on a collaborative model with local institutions” and will have three strategic lines: promoting basic and preclinical research, the participation of Spanish researchers and centers in all international clinical trials, and support for initiatives by independent researchers.
At the event, which was attended by the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, the managers of the multinational highlighted the high level of Spanish professionals and the country’s R&D ecosystem. In fact, Spain has authorized more than 900 clinical trials with medicines and Catalonia alone has 91 research centers and more than 1,300 biopharmaceutical, healthcare, medtech and digital health companies.
In recent years, Barcelona has become a strategic location for the company’s research. Thus, at the end of last year, together with Alexion, it inaugurated its clinical trial center for rare diseases, with an investment of 32 million euros.
The multinational’s relationship with the city was strengthened by the work of Josep Baselga, one of the world’s leading breast cancer oncologists, who in the final years of his career was executive vice president of research at AstraZeneca. The firm already had a research program with the name of the oncologist in collaboration with the Institut d’Oncologia de la Vall d’Hebron (VHIO).
