Drug Development Centre in Turku to receive long-awaited funding
In its budget meeting, the Finnish Government decided to reserve EUR 20 million for paying the share capital and other equity of the Drug Development Centre, established in Turku earlier this spring. At the same time, the ownership of the centre will be transferred to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
“This is significant and long-awaited news not only for Turku, but also for pharmaceutical development in Finland. The Centre will increase the attractiveness of Finland and Turku by offering opportunities for cooperation with Finnish and foreign operators. Turku as an ecosystem has long been tuning its service infrastructure to serve drug development, which is one of the key reasons why it was decided to locate the centre in Turku. Building a development centre in this area is by no means starting from scratch,” says Tero Piispanen, Director of Health Turku.
In a press release from the City of Turku, Turku Mayor Minna Arve thanked the ministers from Finland, Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko and Minister of Family Affairs and Social Sevices Aki Lindén, who worked on behalf of the project.
“The establishment of a drug development centre has long been a goal of the City of Turku, the entire region and the business community. Turku pledges its full support in the next steps of the establishment of the centre,” said Arve.
The Turku region accounts for three quarters of Finland’s pharmaceutical exports and half of its diagnostics exports.
“Turku has a lot of expertise in drug development and health technology. Turku is an excellent location for the centre. The drug development centre will now become a new flagship for the entire health sector in the region,” says Arve.
More information on Turku’s pharmaceutical industry and development: businessturku.fi/healthturku/
Read also about HealthHub Finland, an innovation hub coordinated by Turku Science Park Ltd: New business opportunities for SMEs from health data | Turku Business Region