The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and pharmaceutical leader AstraZeneca are expanding their strategic partnership to establish the Philippines as Asia’s next clinical research center of excellence and a growing life sciences investment hub.
The initiative was highlighted during DTI Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque’s official visit to AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge, United Kingdom—the company’s global headquarters and R&D hub. During the visit, Secretary Roque met with AstraZenecaPhilippines Country President Lotis Ramin and Policy and Advocacy Lead Peter Olivar.
Secretary Roque toured AstraZeneca’s Discovery Science Labs, STEM Inspiration Lab, and DISC facilities before holding a roundtable discussion on proposed health innovation projects in the Philippines, focusing on expanding global clinical trial participationand streamlining regulatory pathways.
AstraZeneca reaffirmed its nearly 50-year commitment to the Philippines, where it currently supports over 28 ongoing and planned clinical trials involving more than 1,000 Filipino patients enrolled since 2022 across a nationwide network of over 150 trial sites.
Over the past 6 years, AstraZeneca has invested more than P3 billion in Philippine clinical trials, with plans to continue to invest in the Philippines to support broader health ecosystem initiatives.
These investments will cover continuing medical education, diagnostics, digital health solutions and innovation for patients in key therapy areas including oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease.”
“Expanding clinical trials and research is not just about medicines. It is about creating high-value jobs for our doctors, nurses, researchers, and health professionals, so more Filipinos can build globally competitive careers here at home,” Secretary Roquesaid.
In August 2025, PEZA and AstraZeneca signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the proposed Multi-Stakeholder Health Innovation Hub within the PEZA ecozone network. Its flagship component, an Oncology Innovation Center, will leverage artificial intelligencefor early lung cancer detection, expand patient-support systems, strengthen healthcare workforce capabilities, and support evidence-based policymaking. The initiative directly aligns with the CREATE MORE Act and the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan(SIPP).
AstraZeneca is also collaborating with De La Salle University (DLSU), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and PEZA through the DLSU Knowledge, Innovation, Science, and Technology Zone. Together, they plan to establish a Clinical Trial Centre ofExcellence in Manila within 2026—serving as the first of three planned pillars in a broader health ecosystem that will also include a Cancer Command Centre and a Cardio-Renal-Metabolic Centre.
To support these initiatives, Secretary Roque said the DTI will work with AstraZeneca, PEZA, DOST, DLSU, and the Department of Health to streamline approvals and explore a one-stop-shop model.
“The Philippines has the talent, digital capabilities, and healthcare expertise to become a regional centre for clinical research and health innovation. Through strong partnerships among government, academe, and industry, we are laying the foundation for aglobally competitive life sciences ecosystem that creates quality jobs and improves healthcare access for Filipinos,” Secretary Roque emphasized.
“Just as we built the IT-BPM industry from call centers into a globally competitive knowledge-services sector, we see clinical research and health information management as the Philippines’ next growth industry. AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre model is exactlythe kind of investment we want to attract,” Roque added.
The delegation included Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro Locsin Jr., PTIC-London Commercial Counsellor May Niña Celynne P. Layug, and other officials from the DTI and the Philippine Embassy in the UK.