Consistent with our belief that future medicines come from our research endeavours today, Roche made the largest investment into R&D within the Pharmaceutical Industry in 2018 of 11 billion Swiss francs (approximately £8.4 billion).
Founded in Basel, Switzerland in 1896, Roche has had a presence in the UK since 1908 with our sites in Welwyn Garden City and Burgess Hill. In 2017 Roche invested £388 million into R&D in the UK and conducted 181 clinical trials. More than 700,000 people were treated with our medicines in the UK in 2017 and we carried out more than 519 million Roche diagnostic tests.
Since 2012, Roche has reduced its impact on the UK environment, reducing CO2 emissions per employee by 35%. Our approach to diversity, inclusion and collaboration was recognised in our UK Top 5 Employer certification and Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for in 2019.
At Roche, we believe that good health is incredibly precious, but also complex, because every person is unique. We are working to advance the concept of ‘personalised healthcare’ – to transform people’s lives by delivering care tailored to each individual – helping to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses more effectively. We have extraordinary people making all this happen. We are the largest biotechnology company in the world.
In the UK, we employ more than 2,100 people of 53 different nationalities across our pharmaceutical, diagnostic and diabetes care divisions, with a further 40+ employees working in our diagnostics division in Ireland. Diversity, inclusion and collaboration are in our DNA. We believe our pipeline to be one of the best in the Industry.
The UK plays an important role in the global research and development (R&D) network for Roche. This includes research at our campus in Welwyn Garden City, as well as clinical trials carried out by external research organisations and collaborations with academic institutions and other partners.
As a result of our continued investment in R&D across the globe, we have supplied 581 different diagnostic tests to the UK, and since 2010, we have delivered eight new medicines, found new ways to use existing medicines across 12 different disease areas, and developed 10 new treatments to help people manage their diabetes.
Recognising that the best R&D requires collaboration with and nurturing of talented people in the UK, we are proud to have many active research collaborations with Academia in the UK. These include funding of students and programmes at undergraduate and post-graduate levels at some of the top institutions within the UK.
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