STERLING-WINTHROP ALZHEIMER’s DRUG DISCOVERY RESEARCH

STERLING-WINTHROP ALZHEIMER's DRUG DISCOVERY RESEARCH is focusing on possible mechanisms of Alzheimer's that are independent of acetylcholine, the company said during the dedication of its new consolidated R&D center in Upper Providence Township, Penn. May 10. The Alzheimer effort is one of the newer and smaller projects in the company's redesigned research program. The "core" areas of research for Sterling will be imaging agents, chronic inflammation and oncology therapeutics, with the latter program focused on development of compounds discovered by the Cancer Treatment and Research Center in San Antonio. The firm also describes its endocrinology and cardiovascular programs as "smaller" efforts. Sterling-Winthrop unveiled its "renewed" pharmaceutical R&D pipeline in December ("The Pink Sheet" Dec. 21, 1992, p. 18). The nine-building R&D facility will house 1,200 researchers once construction is completed by the end of 1993, the company said. The first personnel began moving in during October. Sterling expects to have 2,000 researchers at the facility by the end of the decade. The facility includes laboratory and administration buildings as well as a pilot manufacturing facility to produce clinical supplies under GMP conditions and a drug safety assessment building. The campus is adjacent to Rhone-Poulenc Rorer's Collegeville headquarters. Sterling Winthrop Chairman Louis Mattis cited the 954,000 sq. ft. facility as evidence of "the commitment of our parent, the Eastman Kodak company" to its "vision of being a major participant in health care." Construction costs are estimated to be $365 mil.