Pfizer Inc has purchased the company's La Jolla pharmaceutical discovery and development campus here for $372 million. The campus consists of approximately 1 million square feet of laboratory and office space on a 33-acre site.

"We are making this investment in recognition of the important contribution of La Jolla to the success of Pfizer's global research and development efforts," said Catherine J. Mackey, senior vice president of Pfizer Global Research and Development (PGRD) and La Jolla site head. "California is an important strategic location for life sciences research and we have the scientific talent and facilities at La Jolla to turn our ideas into new medicines," added Catherine.

Over the past three years, Pfizer had invested more than $150 million in improvements to the La Jolla campus, including new laboratories and offices. Today, the laboratories in La Jolla house sophisticated technologies in robotics, high-throughput screening, discovery technologies, rational drug design, combinatorial chemistry, medicinal chemistry, informatics and discovery computation, among others.

"Taking all these factors into consideration, we believe that purchasing the La Jolla campus represents a sound long-term investment for Pfizer," Dr. Mackey added.

The La Jolla campus incorporates the latest in energy-efficient design. A central power plant serves the four newest buildings, which saves an estimated $2.3 million in energy costs a year, or enough to provide electricity to more than 10,000 homes. These buildings received LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification from the US Green Building Council. The designation is for buildings that are designed to reduce energy and use of natural resources through their design and selection of building materials, the company says.