Swiss pharmaceutical giants Serono (NYSE: SRA; SWX: SEO) and Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: NVS; LSE: NOV; SWX: NOVZ) intend to boost R&D investment in Israel. The scope of their increased investments has not yet been announced, but it is known however that they do not currently plan to create productions site in Israel, said Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Investment Promotion Center director Rachel Roei, after a last week's conference in Zurich for the promotion of Swiss investment in life sciences.
75 companies, funds and Swiss investment institutions in the field of life sciences participated in the conference. According to Roei, Serono and Novartis are committed to activity in Israel. In addition, Serono, which closed its production facility InterPharm Laboratories in October of 2004 and moved production to Switzerland, is seeking to make additional R&D investment in Israel. Serono, unlike Novartis, does not rule out future production in Israel.
Serono Senior Executive VP Giampiero De Luca, said at the conference that the Israeli center is due to move from the current Ness Ziona site, with 30 researchers under Dr. Ezra Ouziel, to a new facility under construction in Yavne. It is anticipated that future investments will bring more recruitment of researchers. Since the close of the production facility, Dr. Ouziel has been busy searching for molecules and additional development projects.
De Luca said that Serono's investments in Israel created direct revenue and royalties of hundreds of millions of dollars for InterPharm and Weizmann Institute's Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd.. Most of the revenue was from the multiple sclerosis drug Rebif, which was initially developed at the Weizmann Institute.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 10, 2006
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