Orion Corporation to open Biologics R & D centre in Cambridge
The centre – at the Babraham Research Campus – will focus on the development of new biological and large-molecule therapies, with biologics CMC capabilities and project leadership to support the Orion biologics research projects which are moving towards clinical phase.
The company is renting space in the former Kymab building at Babraham, vacated after parent company Kymab’s parent – French company Sanofi –decided last year to scale back the operation with the loss of 90 jobs.
Orion is tentatively recruiting for a number of jobs in Cambridge but is not prejudging private talks with key players in Finland whose roles could be lost. All being well, Orion hopes to start the Cambridge venture with around 20 staff but over the next three-five years scale that to perhaps 50 people.
Professor Outi Vaarala, Executive Vice President of Innovative Medicines and Research & Development at Orion, says: “Biologics are the fastest growing segment in pharma, representing huge opportunities for new innovative treatments.
“Cambridge is home to Europe’s largest biomedical research hub and establishing our own Biologics R & D Centre in the area gives us access to a pool of world-class scientific talent and opportunities for collaboration with high-profile universities.
“I am thrilled about this continued internationalisation of Orion’s R & D to build the best expertise for the future.”
Orion’s R & D organisation currently consists of around 400 employees, with major sites located in Espoo and Turku in Finland and smaller clinical development hubs in Nottingham, UK and New York City, USA.
To ensure an organisational design that optimally supports Orion’s biologics R & D in future, a statutory negotiation process is set to begin in Finland, which will impact approximately 20 employees working in Orion’s Protein and Antibody Engineering and Characterization teams in Turku. Other employees working in Orion R & D are not impacted.
The company has issued a negotiation proposal, as laid down in the Finnish Act on Co-operation within Undertakings, on the reorganisation of operations and possible personnel reductions.
The operational changes and reorganisations are anticipated to result in changes to responsibilities, transfers to new roles, transfers to different locations, changes to the terms of employment, and possibly end of employment for some if no alternatives are found. The estimated preliminary redundancy need is a maximum of 15. Should redundancies occur, they would take place during 2025.
Professor Vaarala told Business Weekly that the company would not pre-empt talks with staff and unions.
Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company – a builder of well-being for over 100 years. It develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharma ingredients.
The company has an extensive portfolio of proprietary and generic medicines and consumer health products. The core therapy areas of its pharmaceutical R & D are oncology and pain.
Proprietary products developed by Orion are used to treat cancer, neurological diseases and respiratory diseases, among others. Its net sales in 2024 amounted to €1,542 million and the company had about 3,700 employees at the end of the year. Its A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
