DuPONT WILL SPEND $200 MIL. ON HEALTH SCIENCES R&D IN 1986

DuPONT WILL SPEND $200 MIL. ON HEALTH SCIENCES R&D IN 1986, out of a total research and development budget of more than $1 bil., according to Alexander MacLachlan, senior VP for technology. The allocation for health research is more than double DuPont's health expenses five years ago, he said. MacLachlan testified April 24 before the House Science and Technology Committee's science policy task force. "Our expanded effort in health care research is also reflected in our basic research programs in biotechnology, where we're now spending about $50 mil. annually -- over three times our 1981 expenditure . . . DuPont is allocating its resources in a concerted effort to turn basic biotechnological research into commercially viable products," MacLachlan said. Since 1981, DuPont has sunk more than $150 mil. into lab facilities for its life sciences-related projects, MacLachlan said. "In parallel, we have been building a high quality staff in both basic and applied research," he continued. "Our basic scientists, now numbering over 200, are trained in molecular biology, genetics, immunology, and related disciplines. This expansion in basic research personnel has been paralleled in our operating departments, with new staff to support our planned growth in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, biological research instrumentation, research animals, and other health-related areas." According to MacLachlan, DuPont's push to create a strong in-house biology base is driven by three factors: the need to become familiar with emerging technologies, the desire to take new discoveries (both from inside and outside the company) to the commercial marketplace, and the aim to position itself as "an attractive partner in collaborative ventures, recognizing the importance of the vast amount of research in universities and elsewhere." DuPont is engaged in joint R&D projects with Harvard Medical School, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New England Nuclear, Centocor, Cistron Technology, the National Cancer Institute and Duke University.