GlaxoSmithKline Plc (NYSE: GSK) announced that it will increase its China-based research and development staff to 350 people in the next few years. Currently, the company has 170 employees on its R&D roster at is Shanghai facility. That number will move up to 200 by the end of this year, and it will jump to 350 within a year or so. At that point, staffing will level off for three or four years while new facilities are built.

The comments were made at the ChinaBio® Investor Forum held in Shanghai by Carol Zhu, who is head of operation management and alliances in the R&D department for GSK, and they were reported first by Reuters. The ChinaBio® Investor Forum was organized by the ChinaBio® Accelerator, which is a sister organization to ChinaBio® Today.

These increases are lower than the numbers projected at the end of 2007. In December 2007, GSK said it expected to have invested $100 million in its Shanghai facility by the end of 2008 and have 1000 staff members employed there by 2010.

When it was started, GSK’s Shanghai R&D center had the stated goal of focusing on neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. The Shanghai center was tasked with eventually directing GSK’s R&D activities in this therapeutic area, coordinating with other GSK centers around the world and research institutions in China and globally. The Shanghai center began operations in the summer of 2007.

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