Pharmaceutical

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.

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.

The new addition to the existing Pharmacy Building creates an exciting and energetic new identity for the School of Pharmacy on the Rutgers University Brunswick campus, as well as a new front door located on a main campus pathway.

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.

Cambrex Corporation completed construction in April of 2019 on a $24 million facility for the manufacture of highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs) in Charles City, Iowa. The 6,000-sf project houses four reactors with capacities ranging from 200 to 1,000 gallons to accommodate batches from 50 to 300 kilograms. An existing small scale manufacturing area has also been reconfigured.

EMD Serono’s SagaMORE project—designed to enhance the company’s progressive work culture through employee engagement, well-being, and biophylic design features—demonstrates why human health-centered design is the new frontier in the creation of built environments. The office complex, comprising an existing office building and a recent addition, is the first new and existing building project in the U.S., and only the second in the world, to achieve WELL Gold certification from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI).

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering has announced the winners of the 2019 Facility of the Year Awards.

ONE Life Sciences is planning to construct the £40 million Bio-Therapeutics Hub for Innovation in Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. Located on the Foresterhill Health Campus, the 69,000-sf facility will provide business incubation space, leasable labs and offices for established companies, collaboration areas, conference rooms, and venues for events and colloquia.

Bluebird Bio opened a 125,000-sf gene and cell therapy manufacturing facility in March of 2019 in Durham, N.C. Representing an $80 million investment, the project is bluebird's first wholly owned facility and will support the production of lentiviral vector for clinical and commercial applications. The building, which is now substantially complete and undergoing equipment commissioning, provides multiple manufacturing suites, quality-control testing labs, and warehouse space.

Merck opened the first M Lab™ Collaboration Center in Europe in March of 2019. Located in Molsheim, France, the facility provides biopharmaceutical customers with a shared, exploratory environment where they can work with Merck scientists and engineers to accelerate the manufacture of new therapies. The 43,000-sf facility offers advanced simulation technologies in a non-GMP environment for end-to-end process development from pre-clinical through full-scale production.

Eisai is building the $100 million Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2) in Cambridge, Mass. Sited in the newly constructed Alewife Research Center, the 50,000-sf neuroscience facility will support exploratory drug research on next-generation dementia therapeutics. Featuring numerous interaction zones and huddle areas, the center will provide open offices, a collaboration hub, flexible meeting rooms, and multidisciplinary open labs for the study of biology, chemistry, and automation.

Cellectis entered into a lease agreement in March of 2019 to build the Innovative Manufacturing Plant for Allogeneic Cellular Therapies (IMPACT) in Raleigh, N.C. Designed by Laporte Euro, the facility will produce immunotherapies based on gene-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells (UCART). Colliers International assisted in the real estate transaction. In addition, Cellectis is building a 14,000-sf manufacturing facility in Paris.

Amicus Therapeutics is creating the Global Research and Gene Therapy Center of Excellence in Philadelphia. The 75,000-sf facility will provide collaborative laboratories and offices for the discovery and development of treatments for rare metabolic diseases. Accommodating up to 200 employees, the center will serve as the headquarters for the global Amicus science organization and the gene therapy division’s leadership team. Occupancy is expected in the second half of 2019.

Akouos, a genetic medicine company, has leased 37,500 sf in Boston for its research headquarters. The facility is located in a two-story, 150,000-sf building at 645 Summer Street and will support the discovery and commercialization of therapies for hearing disorders. The project was developed by Pappas Enterprises and renovated by Tocci Building Corporation. The sustainably designed structure has attained LEED Silver certification.