Roche has said it intends to establish a “major global pharmaceutical development site” in Ontario, Canada, creating around 200 skilled jobs.
The facility in Mississauga will be set up with an investment fund of $190 million, with an additional $7.79 million provided by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Renovations of the site will begin later this year and some employees have already been recruited, said Roche Canada in a statement.
Mississauga joins five other global development sites in the Roche network and will concentrate on managing operations for clinical research. The company said it selected Ontario for the facility because of its “educated and capable workforce, and a favourable business environment supported by a government that places a high strategic priority on life sciences.”
Over the next five years, positions in areas such as global study management, data management and regulatory aspects of product development will be filled, and Canada will “provide global leadership and coordination for clinical development that will take place through its substantial affiliate R&D network conducting clinical trials in more than 60 countries,” according to Roche.
The investment in Canada comes after Roche implemented a wave of job cuts in recent months in an attempt to respond to tougher market conditions. Last November the drugmaker said it planned to do away with 4,800 jobs – or 6% of its workforce – in a bid to save around 2.4 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) a year. Most of the cuts were made in manufacturing, sales and marketing functions.
