Swedish-British pharma AstraZeneca is hoping to open its St. Petersburg Bio Information Center early next year, RIA Novosti reports, citing AstraZeneca manager for innovation project Elmira Safarova.

In addition to St. Pete, AstraZeneca is reportedly setting up a similar center in China’s Shanghai.

“These centers will cover everything related to bioinformatics from fundamental research to development and clinical trials,” Ms. Safarova said, adding that AstraZeneca was hoping for collaboration with St. Petersburg-based research institutes.

AstraZeneca PLC is one of the world’s largest pharmas set up in 1999 after a merger between Britain’s Zeneca Group and Sweden’s Astra. The firm engages in development, production and marketing of drugs for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurologic and oncologic diseases. AstraZeneca is reportedly present in more than 100 countries.

In Russia, AstraZeneca operates in a reported 65 cities.