Economy and Business
US drug maker to strengthen China branch
By Ma Zhenhuan (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2010-04-07 17:53
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SHANGHAI: Bristol-Myers Squibb, a New York-headquartered drug maker, said it plans to double its research and develop team in China within three years.
Bristol-Myers, which spun off Mead Johnson Nutrition last November to enhance its focus on biopharmaceuticals, has hired around 125 staffers in its wholly foreign-owned firm based in Shanghai, among which around 100 are R&D people.
"We will bring out five to 10 products to the Chinese market in the next six years," said Elliott Sigal, chief scientific officer at BMS, in Shanghai recently.
Bristol-Myers, among the world's top 10 drug firms, invested $ 3.5 billion in research and development in 2008, accounting for 17 percent of the company's annual sales that year.
According to Dong Ruiping, vice president of emerging markets, the company's major focuses in China are on diseases of the liver, cardiovascular system, metabolism, tumors and diabetes.
"China has the second-largest number of diabetes patients in the world after India, 30 million. We hope to meet the huge demand of these Chinese patients," Dong said.
Bristol-Myers established China's first joint venture in the pharmaceutical sector — Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceutical Ltd in 1982, with State-owned firm Shanghai Pharmaceutical Co.
