Drugs giant shifts base to US to entice scientists

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis is to move its research headquarters from the Swiss city of Basel to Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of a drive to recruit top US scientists.

The move will not only make recruitment easier but offers the advantage of proximity to universities such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mark Fishman, professor of medicine at Harvard's medical school and director of cardiovascular research at Massachusetts General Hospital, will run the company's Institute for Biomedical Research (NIBR). He will have a research staff of about 400, with a further 900 scientists to be recruited later. The centre will coordinate the group's research activities in Europe, the US and Japan.

Daniel Vasella, Novartis's chairman and CEO, said: "Aligning our research under the leadership of a top scientist will enhance the quality of our discoveries and our ability to provide innovative drugs."

Professor Fishman has replaced Paul Herrling, the Swiss director of the NIBR, who will become head of corporate research in Basel.

The new American research centre has a starting capital of $250 million (£170 million) and Novartis plans to expand the Cambridge site to create "one of the most important research campuses in the world".

The NIBR is devoted to the discovery of new drugs for diabetes, cardiovascular and infectious diseases and the implementation of integrated technologies.