A JAPANESE pharmaceuticals company is to spend Pounds sterling 50 million
on setting up a research centre in Britain. The company, Eisai, has chosen
University College, London (UCL) as the location for a centre for the neurosciences.
The money will be spread over 15 years.
The aim is to undertake basic research into diseases of the central
nervous system such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and Alzheimer鈥檚
disease.
The company hopes to attract around 35 scientists from the US, Japan
and Europe, by offering them what it describes as competitive salaries.
These staff will also hold part-time teaching and research posts at the
university.
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Eisai set up a clinical research centre at Hammersmith in London two
years ago. The company aims to combine the work of the two centres to 鈥榚ncourage
the discovery of innovative drugs鈥�.
Eisai will retain intellectual property rights to any potential product
that arises from research at the centre. The company is also establishing
the terms by which it will share the rights to the fruits of collaborative
research between its own staff and scientists working for the university.
The laboratory will co-exist on UCL鈥檚 campus with the Science and Engineering
Research Council鈥檚 Centre for Biochemical Engineering and the Medical Research
Council鈥檚 Centre for Cell Biology.
