The Biopharma operations will be fully integrated with the core pharmaceutical R&D organization of Schering-Plough to help maintain an efficient overall product flow process.
Schering-Plough has been maintaining two independent research facilities in California: Canji Inc in San Diego, acquired in 1996, and Dnax Research Institute Inc in Palo Alto, acquired in 1982. The new Biopharma unit will be based at the current Dnax laboratories in Palo Alto and Dnax president and CEO, Dr John Curnutte, has been appointed president of the new unit and vice president of Schering-Plough Research Institute.
“We will be focusing our West Coast discovery capabilities in the area of biologics research, mainly monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins, while we continue to build our East Coast resources in small molecule discovery at our research sites in New Jersey and Cambridge, Massachusetts,” said Dr Catherine Strader, executive vice president of discovery research at Schering-Plough Research Institute.
The company plans to offer all full-time Schering-Plough employees at the Canji site positions within Schering-Plough Biopharma in Palo Alto and hopes to have the integration fully operational by the end of the Q3 2005.