Eisai to expand UK operations in Hatfield

Eisai is to create more UK jobs after announcing that its Hatfield headquarters are to be the hub for an expanded European operating strategy.

The 100 million pound facility, which was set up as a European base in 2009, is set to take on a wider role in supporting the company's growing European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) business.

It will aim to increase access to innovative medicines throughout the region, while also improving knowledge interaction via shared pricing and reimbursement strategies and the communication of medical and marketing knowledge.

Through these efforts, Eisai will move closer towards its goal of having a presence in the world's top 20 pharmaceutical market regions by 2015.

Gary Hendler, Eisai's newly-appointed EMEA president and chief executive officer, said: "We chose to base our EMEA operations in the UK as we recognise the country's importance as a global hub for the pharmaceutical industry."

In December 2011, the company commenced operations of a new research facility in Massachusetts, which will be used by its cancer-focused subsidiary H3 Biomedicine.