ADC Bio completed construction of a £5 million bioconjugation cleanroom in July of 2019. Located within the company's 70,000-sf facility in Deeside in the United Kingdom, the GMP lab will support the commercial manufacture of innovative antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of cancer. Designed and constructed by WHP Engineering, the project houses Grade C and D cleanrooms with four-zone HVAC systems for optimal environmental containment.
The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4IR) was coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, to describe the exponential transformation society and commerce are experiencing due to converging breakthroughs in numerous fields, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, the internet of things (IoT), and quantum computing. While this latest advancement is to some degree an extension of the third revolution (aka: The Digital Revolution), 4IR is considered a new era because of the unprecedented speed, scope, and systems impact of the coming changes. It is evolving at an exponential rate rather than a linear one and is expected to disrupt entire systems of production, management, transportation, and governance on a global scale. In response, a new breed of interdisciplinary research facility is emerging, as academic institutions try to anticipate training students for the unforeseen demands of the 4IR.
ElevateBio has selected DPS Group and TRIA to design ElevateBio BaseCamp, a 108,000-sf cGMP development and manufacturing facility in Waltham. Located in a 430,000-sf office and lab building, the facility will offer integrated R&D, process development, and cGMP manufacturing services for novel therapeutic technologies.
Aldevron will begin construction in August of 2019 on a 14-acre biologics campus in Fargo, N.D., where it is currently headquartered. The first phase comprises a two-story, 189,000-sf facility for the manufacture of plasmid DNA, proteins, mRNA, and antibodies. Increasing Aldevron’s GMP and GMP-Source™ production capacity up to tenfold, the structure will connect to the company's existing GMP facility and is expected to be fully operational by early 2021.
The Wistar Institute is partnering with University Place Associates to construct a 240,000-sf life science discovery hub in the University City district of Philadelphia. Designed to accelerate innovation by providing shared resources and critical infrastructure, the collaborative project will provide leasable laboratories and offices for biotech firms, research companies, and academic institutions.
WuXi Biologics began construction in May of 2019 on a $365 million pharmaceutical production facility in Dundalk, Ireland. Sited on 52 acres, the 522,000-sf contract manufacturing center will utilize single-use technologies and processes, enabling cost-effective scale-out and the simultaneous production of multiple batches of varying volumes. Commercial operations are expected to begin in 2022 at the site, which will be the company's first manufacturing plant outside of China.
Iovance Biotherapeutics entered into a lease agreement in May of 2019 to construct a 136,000-sf facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Featuring modular processes for optimal scalability, the building will support commercial and clinical production of therapeutics based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technologies. The $125 million facility is slated for completion in mid-2021. Iovance will contribute approximately $75 million towards the cost of the building over three years for equipment and construction of the manufacturing suites.
Chugai Pharmaceuticals will begin construction in August of 2019 on a $1.15 billion research and development center in Yokohama, Japan. Consolidating two labs currently sited in Gotemba and Kamakura, the facility will support drug discovery including the creation of therapies based on next-generation antibodies and synthetic macrocycles, also known as middle molecules. The pharmaceutical research center will leverage leading-edge automation processes and artificial intelligence technologies to accelerate the delivery of innovative medicines to patients worldwide.
WuXi Biologics began construction in May of 2019 on a 1.3 million-sf integrated manufacturing center in Chengdu, China. Meeting the criteria of both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency's GMP guidelines, the biologics hub will include both drug development and commercial manufacturing facilities. Offering an initial bioreactor capacity of 48,000 liters, the project is WuXi's twelfth drug substance manufacturing plant and will use the company's open-access and proprietary platforms.
Bayer broke ground in May of 2019 on the $150 million Cell Culture Technology Center in Berkeley, Calif. The 40,000-sf biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility will produce advanced therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, enabling the company to expand its biologics development and launch capabilities. Fluor Corporation is providing a single point of responsibility for engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning, qualification, validation, and integration of the project.
Novo Nordisk's global production will be entirely powered by renewable energy by early 2020, with a ten-year goal of achieving zero carbon emissions from operations and transportation. The pharmaceutical company has made a $70 million investment in a 105-megawatt-dc solar energy installation to be built in Pender County, North Carolina.
The University of Massachusetts Lowell celebrated the reopening of Perry Hall in April of 2019. Providing teaching and research labs, classrooms, collaboration areas, and space for industry partnerships, the $50 million project included the redevelopment of 47,825 sf of interior space and the addition of 5,600 sf on the fourth floor, which now connects to Ball Hall.
Biotechpharma UAB is initiating an expansion of its existing manufacturing campus in Vilnius, Lithuania. The $56 million project includes construction of a leading-edge process development lab and the installation of a new line of bioreactors for microbial fermentation at the 5,000-liter scale. Flexible facility design will also allow for increased mammalian cell culture production capacities.
Kite Pharma is planning to build a biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Frederick, Md. Located on a 20-acre site at the Urbana Corporate Center, the project will provide 217,000 sf of manufacturing and support space for the production of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell therapies as well as investigational T cell receptor (TCR) cell therapies being evaluated in solid tumors. The facility will also include 62,000 sf of office space. Occupancy is expected in 2021. Kite is a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities opened the first phase of the Alexandria Center for AgTech in Research Triangle Park in April of 2019. Located in Durham, N.C., the project is a unique multi-tenant campus offering integrated research, development, and greenhouse facilities for agricultural science and technology companies.
