LONDON—Squibb Corporation, the U.S. pharmaceutical company, plans to spend $32 million over the next seven years at Oxford University on basic neuroscience research. The agreement is one of the biggest between industry and academia since Hoechst announced its $50 million, 10-year investment in molecular biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1982.
Squibb is the first company to respond with cash to a workshop, organized jointly by the university and Britain’s Medical Research Council last December, that sought to generate industrial support for Oxford’s world-class medical research program. The workshop drew research directors from 23 countries—all but two from outside the United Kingdom.
Squibb, which once had major confectionery and food interests, is now exclusively a health-care company with sales of $1.78 billion last year, 85 percent from pharmaceutical products. Its R&D budget has been growing rapidly, from $163 million in 1986 to $225 million this year and $300 million ...
