BRIDGEWATER, NJ--Pharmaceutical company Hoechst Marion Roussel announced the opening of a $45 million drug innovation facility that it said will double the company's research capacity here. The 150,000-square-foot facility will house 200 researchers dedicated to lead generation functions, including analytical and medicinal chemistry, automated chemical synthesis, biotechnology, automated screening, and molecular modeling.
Company spokesman Ron Rogers told BioInform the building will house a "significant" bioinformatics staff, but that Hoechst's major bioinformatics thrust is taking place in Cambridge, Mass., at the Hoechst-Ariad Research Center. Rogers said bioinformatics and knowledge management are important elements of Hoechst's strategy: "Everyone has access to technology. We think knowledge management will separate the winners from the losers."