Amongst the most innovative pharmaceutical groups, Ipsen devoted over 20% of sales to R&D in 2010. Its research teams are active in discovering and developing new molecules, and managing the life-cycle of products which are already marketed.

The Group’s Research and Development ambition is to respond to unmet medical needs by providing patients with innovative care solutions, and to transform the prognosis of the disease.

Research and Development has two core tasks:

• the discovery, development and marketing of new drugs in four therapeutic areas targeted by the Group: endocrinology, oncology, neurology and haematology, in specific and welldefined diseases and indications: Neuroendocrinology, hormone-dependent cancers, neuromuscular disorders, haemophilia;
• management of the lifecycle of the products marketed by the Group: development of new formulations, extensions of indications, registration in new geographical areas.

Research and development hinges on three main features:

• knowledge of hormonal mechanisms;
• engineering of peptides and proteins, coupled with innovative drug delivery;
• control of a single agent: Botulinum toxin