Novartis Drug Discovery Centralization Brings R&D Relocations, Job Cuts

Novartis' efforts to rationalize and centralize its drug discovery programs will see the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases moved from Singapore to California and the closure of biologics units in Shanghai and in the Swiss town of Schlieren.

Creation by Novartis AG of a unified early discovery research group based both in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, MA USA - aimed at centralizing control over drug discovery and curb costs - is prompting the relocation of its research base for tropical diseases from Singapore to Emeryville, Cali. and the closure of its biologics divisions in Shanghai, China and Schlieren, Switzerland.

The changes are part of Novartis' decision to re-organize drug innovation and capture synergies.

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