Lilly expands capabilities of Surrey research site

Lilly has officially opened new facilities at its base in Erl Wood in Surrey, the company's biggest research and development site outside the US.

A new facility has been created to house 130 members of staff working across disciplines such as pharmacokinetics, clinical pharmacology and statistics, focusing on early drug development work.

Developed using an investment of 5.4 million pounds, the new site will expand the Erl Wood facility's remit beyond neuroscience into fields such as oncology, metabolic diseases and cardiovascular and musculoskeletal conditions.

This comes at a time when Lilly is pushing forward with the development of therapies such as edivoxetine, pomaglumetad and solanezumab, in order to compensate for patent expiries on the likes of Zyprexa.

Dr Jan Lundberg, head of research and development at Lilly, said: "This is the latest stage of an ongoing investment programme to ensure Erl Wood remains at the forefront of what is possible in life science research."

Last month, the company published its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, reporting a revenue total of $5.6 billion (3.46 billion pounds) for the period.