Roche opens Pharma Research and Development Center in Basel to accelerate scientific innovation

– Switzerland’s most innovative research and development center underscores Roche’s long-term investment in scientific advancement to meet patient needs
– The new center will simplify and increase collaboration thereby accelerating scientific innovation
– Guy Parmelin, Federal Counsel and Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) will attend the center’s inauguration

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today the opening of its new Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) Center at its global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Equipped with cutting-edge technologies and housing around 1,000 state-of-the-art laboratory and office workplaces, the new center brings together teams of scientists and researchers to accelerate scientific discoveries for patients.

Severin Schwan, Chairman of the Roche Group: “Roche has invested CHF 1.2 billion into the new pRED Center, underscoring our ongoing commitment to supporting Switzerland in remaining a leading innovative life sciences hub, the country where Roche was founded over 125 years ago.”

Thomas Schinecker, CEO of the Roche Group: “The new pRED Center will play an integral role in collaborating with our research centers across the globe, aiming to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of our R&D, and to deliver the greatest impact for patients.”

Hans Clevers, Head of Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED): “By investing in the new center we are continuing to push scientific frontiers to translate innovation into medicines, to better meet the needs of our patients. The new center will enable greater interaction and knowledge sharing across disciplines, for example, chemists, biologists and data scientists.”

The new pRED Center consists of two high-rise laboratory buildings (114m, 72m), with cutting-edge lab technologies and digital solutions, alongside an office building and a convention center (26m, 18m). In total, there are 33 combined laboratories and office floors with 150 labs and workplaces for around 1,800 researchers. The state-of-the-art buildings have been deliberately designed to foster collaboration and an end-to-end mindset, aiming to deliver the most transformative medicines to patients faster.

Since 2009, Roche invested 4.6 billion CHF into the Basel/Kaiseraugst site upgrade of which the inauguration of the pRED Center marks the biggest single investment. In addition, we are currently investing a further 1.2 billion CHF across the Basel site. This totals an investment of 5.8 billion CHF into the development of the Basel/Kaiseraugst site from 2009 to 2030.