Discovering new medicines
Our R&D teams are dedicated to finding medicines that can have a positive effect on the lives of patients. We mainly focus on cardiology, gastroenterology, osteoporosis, respiratory, pain and tissue management and oncology. Our expertise in these areas enables us to develop new medicines with partner companies, as well as conduct our own research.

Putting patient safety first
We diligently test our products, conducting clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of each new product. We are committed to conducting new and ongoing clinical trials with core products, and to disclosing study results in free public repositories on the Internet.

The research phases
Developing a new medicine takes a long time – sometimes more than ten years. At every point of development and testing, human safety is always placed first. The medicine must prove its safety and efficacy in each stage. Only then can it move onto the next phase of testing and development.

• Discovery research searches for new (or new uses of) active substances. Based on early results, biological models are established.
• Preclinical trials test the biological models for safety and efficacy. The results provide valuable information about doses and any possible side effects that may occur when using the medicine.
• Clinical trials begin clinical investigation of the medicine in humans. Initial studies are usually performed using healthy volunteers to ascertain tolerability, safety and uptake and secretion of the medicine.
• Registration involves compiling data for registration and assisting the authorities as they analyse the information.