Essential News

San Jose, October 1, 2021 — The global biotechnology company, Roche, announced today the consolidation of its operations in the country with the construction of the One Roche Costa Rica campus, located in Sabana Norte. Roche announced its plan to build their own facility this morning, during its 125th anniversary virtual celebration, attended by Roche collaborators and government officials.

Roche has a long-standing history in Central America, with ongoing operations since 1966. Its Pharmaceutical hub for the region has been located in Costa Rica since 1973, a testimony to the country’s stability, investment climate and talent. In 2017, Roche launched its Services & Solutions operation for the Americas in San José, providing support services for Information Technologies. The company has seen continuous growth in its team through the incorporation of Finance and Procurement services in 2019 and People Support Solutions in 2020. (Read history overview in Creating value in Central America for 55 years).

The 29.010-square meter (312,261-ft2) One Roche Costa Rica campus will bring together over 1,200 collaborators currently working in different locations in Costa Rica, in the areas of Pharma, Diagnostics, Diabetes Care, and Services and Solutions. The total cost of the project is US$100 million and there will be additional capacity to support any future plans to grow operations. With this investment, the company expands its presence in the country; by 2025, the operation is expected to include over 1,500 collaborators, by creating around 300 new direct jobs.

Carlos Alvarado, President of Costa Rica, stated, “Costa Rica is positioned as a country with quality human capital, recognized as such by major local and multinational companies. This is attractive for companies to increase their investments and number of job positions. Our pathway is to create opportunities to produce personnel that can rise to the future market challenges.”

On her part, the First Lady, Claudia Dobles, stated that, “we are filled with satisfaction that a brand with such a recognized background will consolidate its operations in the country. Employing 300 people within a period of 3 years for multiple roles and with an investment of $100 million represents an acknowledgment of the great human talent offered by Costa Rica and challenges us to continue betting on technological specialization, bilingualism, and research.”

Hector Feliu, General Manager of Roche Services & Solutions Americas, commented, “Acquiring and Building our One Roche Costa Rica campus is evidence that we are here to stay and consolidate operations in the country. From this campus, we will continue to provide innovative products, services, solutions, and added value to continue developing today the solutions our patients need tomorrow, in accordance with our purpose statement: Doing now what patients need next. This announcement is particularly significant for us, because precisely today is Roche’s 125th anniversary, and the best celebration possible for us is to share this news with the country. We are delighted not just to call Costa Rica our home, but also our hub for Solutions and Services to the Americas.”

“For many years now, we have been able to position ourselves as strategic partners to companies, especially to those in the medical industries. This announcement made by Roche today, of the building of their One Roche Costa Rica campus, is proof of the great offer of services and business opportunities our country offers to top-level companies. These 29.010 m2 will accommodate 1.200 collaborators in the areas of Pharma, Diagnostics, and Diabetes Care, as well as service areas, becoming the epicenter of operations for all the Americas”, said the Minister of Foreign Commerce, Andrés Valenciano.

Furthermore, he stressed, “Today, we also celebrate the 125th anniversary of an emblematic company. We hope to keep contributing to the history of Roche, not just in our country via innovative processes, services, and specialized solutions, but also to their worldwide history.”

For her part, Vanessa Gibson, Director of Investment Climate at CINDE, commented, “Roche is a clear example of companies that have diversified their operations in our country over time. Thanks to thorough work spanning decades and to the commitment of the Costa Rican talent to the company strategy, today they show an additional vote of confidence by announcing their investment on the One Roche Costa Rica campus, which is certain to allow managing further lines of business in our country in the medium term.”

“Today’s announcement confirms our vision of building long-term partnerships. As our home for the past 48 years, Costa Rica has provided vast opportunities to impact the lives of millions of patients in Central America and the Caribbean; consolidating operations in this Campus will maximize our footprint for the next 125 years and beyond. We trust in the future we are building from Costa Rica and with Costa Rica, promoting sustainability alliances to enable our purpose of ensuring that innovation is available to patients as soon as possible, and thus, to contribute to quality of life of society while generating opportunities for our talent,” concluded Alvaro Soto, General Manager at Roche Pharma for Central America and the Caribbean.

The state-of-the-art, 21-story building will offer many amenities for collaborators of Roche Costa Rica, including collaboration spaces to foster creativity and innovation, a convention center, and other spaces. Construction will begin in November of this year, and is expected to finish by Q2, 2023.

The company maintains open recruitment processes in a number of areas. Those interested in applying to an available position can visit: careers.roche.com. All positions require high proficiency in English, and some require French and Portuguese. For more information, please visit Roche’s LinkedIn page: Roche Costa Rica

About Roche
Roche is an international pioneer company in the research and development of medication and diagnostic products, with the intent to advance science and improve the life of people. The strength derived from integrating the pharmaceutical and diagnostic areas under the same roof has made Roche a leader in personalized medicine, a strategy aiming at providing the most adequate treatment for each patient in the best possible way.

Roche is the top biotechnology company in the world, with authentically differentiated medications in the areas of oncology, immunology, infectious disease, ophthalmology, and neuroscience. Roche is also the worldwide leader in in vitro diagnostics and cancer histology diagnostics, and a forerunner in diabetes control.

Founded in 1896, Roche seeks better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease, as well as contributing to the sustainable development of society. The company also has the purpose of improving access to medical innovations for patients, by working with all pertinent stakeholders. The World Health Organization’s List of Essential Drugs contains over 30 medications developed by Roche, including antibiotics, anti-malarial drugs, and cancer medications. For the 12th year in a row, Roche has been recognized by the Dow Jones sustainability index (DJSI) as the most sustainable company in the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, and Life Sciences group.

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the Roche Group, has current operation in over 100 countries. In 2020, it employed over 100,000 people, invested 12,000 million Swiss Francs (CHF) in research and development (R&D), and had sales for 58,300 million CHF. Genentech (USA) is fully owned by the Roche Group, and furthermore, Roche is the majority stakeholder of Chugai Pharmaceutical (Japan). For more information, visit www.roche.com.