Sanofi to expand in China

France's Sanofi-Aventis announced it will expand its research and development functionality in Shanghai, China. In a new partnership with the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, the company will work on drug discovery in the areas of cancer, diabetes and neurological disease, and will put a new biometrics facility in Beijing. The facility in Shanghai has been there since June of 2005 and functions in the full spectrum of drug discovery.

The new facility in Beijing, which it hopes will be in full operation by year's end, will be more specialized, handling specifically data management, study design and statistical analysis.

"A comprehensive development program for vaccines is already on-going in China and we are looking forward to its expansion in the near future," said Dr. Michel DeWilde, Senior Vice President, Sanofi Pasteur R&D.

- read Sanofi's release