Novartis to expand global research HQ
Will invest US$600m and add 300 new jobs
Novartis will add 300 new jobs and invest US$600m to expand its global research headquarters campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
The Swiss pharmaceutical company plans to expand its current Massachusetts Avenue campus, adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by more than 400,000ft2, including laboratory, office and retail space.
The building work, which is expected to begin in 2011, will take place over the next five years.
Mark Fishman, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, said the firm was the first global pharmaceutical company to move its research HQ to Massachusetts, in 2002. Since then, he said: ‘It has achieved prominence and, we believe, helped to amplify Cambridge's magnetism for others in the biomedical field to follow.’
Fishman added: ‘Our scientists and physicians here already have discovered a host of new medicines, and established fruitful collaborations with academic, clinical, and biotech institutions.’
He also said that the ‘constellation of talent and environment are unmatched’ at the Cambridge HQ and ‘we look forward to the next wave of new medicines coming from this centre’.
Novartis employs more than 2,000 associates in Cambridge and occupies more than 1 million square feet of laboratory and office space, making it the city's largest corporate employer.