Sanofi-Aventis has previously announced that it is to leave the site, where 460 people are employed, by 2013, .
Dr Cook said: “We are talking to five different sites across the UK – Dagenham and four others. We think the current climate is ready for this.
“We have got skills but we need to refocus them. The fact that we are talking to five means that other people are now agreeing.
“There’s a need to promote innovation, enterprise, knowledge economy. We don’t need to build any more science facilities – they are already there.
SOG is this month marking 10 years of operating the former ICI headquarters in Cheshire, which has become a magnet for politicians who have come to see how the site has helped to regenerate the area without being supported by any public money.
