Almirall Prodesfarma opens a new laboratory in the Barcelona Science Park.
The centre has the most up-to-date facilities for the development of biological research
- The aim of this centre, which has been named "Target Validation Laboratory", is to provide biological knowledge on the molecular cause of diseases related to inflammatory processes.
- The laboratory has a surface area of over 400 square metres.
- Almirall Prodesfarma has invested more than a million euros (around 200 million pesetas) in own scientific equipment in order to carry out this research.
The pharmaceutical company Almirall Prodesfarma has opened a new Research Centre in the Barcelona Science Park. The centre has a surface area of over 400 square metres as well as the most up-to-date facilities. It was designed jointly by Almirall Prodesfarma and specialists from the Science Park. Almirall Prodesfarma has invested over 1 million euros (about 200 million pesetas) in own scientific equipment for this project.
The research Almirall Prodesfarma will perform in the Science Park aims to use the latest methods and technologies in the field of biology in order to identify the targets through which future drugs will act.
Dr. José Mª Palacios, director of the Research and Development Area in Almirall Prodesfarma, says: "The main aim of this centre, known as Target Validation Laboratory, is to provide knowledge about the molecular cause of different diseases related to inflammatory processes and against which there are currently no satisfactory therapeutic solutions. In the future this research will allow the choice of molecular structures from the body against which drugs will be directed, thus being able to provide safer and more effective therapeutic alternatives than those currently available".
At the moment, medicines available on the market act in about 500 different ways on the human body, i.e. they interact with about 500 molecular targets. Full knowledge of the human genome and its variants means we can anticipate that the number of these targets could end up being tenfold this amount.
The choice of the Science Park as home to the development of this research was based on the need to envelop it in an academic environment that would foster interaction between groups devoted to basic research as well as research applied to the discovery of drugs.
A competitive team
During the current year Almirall Prodesfarma's staff devoted to this new laboratory is made up of 10 researchers, although this number is expected to rise to 15 during 2002. The approximate cost of this enterprise for next year will be about 1.5 million euros (about 250 million pesetas).
The staff engaged for this project will provide knowledge in the most advanced methodologies in the field of biological research. This, along with the experience in industrial research of the existing team, will allow for the incorporation of all the disciplines required to form an internationally competitive team.
Almirall Prodesfarma
The main aim of Almirall Prodesfarma, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company, is to provide society with innovative drugs to combat discomfort and disease, thus helping to improve quality of life. To this end, it constantly devotes the maximum human and financial resources to researching new products.
The company's main research fields fall within the areas related to the treatment of asthma, allergies, dermatitis, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and migraine.
It has a staff of 2,500 people of whom over 300 work in R&D activities in its two research centres. The annual R&D investment reached up to 42 million euros (7.050 million pesetas). For the current year this entry is expected to rise to more than 60 million euros (10.000 million pesetas). Its overall forecast in this area for the coming five years is 350 million euros (60,000 million pesetas).
It also has five manufacturing plants in the Barcelona area as well as branches in Spain's main cities and subsidiaries in Europe and Latin America.