The Edmonton Clinic, a partnership of the University of Edmonton and Alberta's Capital Health, will begin construction in 2007 on a $589-million, 1.6 million-sf facility in Edmonton. Integrating healthcare, research, and learning, the project will include over 61 groups from both the private and public sector including pharmaceutical science and rehabilitation medicine.
Emeryville, Calif.-based Neurobiological Technologies, Inc. (NTI) opened a new pharmaceutical vivarium in Moorrege, Germany, in winter of 2006. The facility is owned and operated by NTI’s partner, Nordmark Arzneimittel GmbH, and houses Malayan pit vipers for the production of Viprinex®, a drug for the treatment of strokes. The GMP facility currently houses 100 snakes and could eventually contain up to 1,500.
Pharmaceutical company Eisai Incorporated will expand its footprint in Research Triangle Park, N.C. with the construction of a 65,000-sf facility. Bringing the site to a total of 225,000-sf, the $90 million plant will accommodate research and development of intravenous drug production and formulation for cancer therapies. Eisai will also construct a $15 million central utilities plant to supply power, chilled water, steam, and compressed air for both new and existing buildings. Completion of the pharmaceutical plant expansion is expected in 2009.
Novartis is planning to build an integrated research and development center in Shanghai, China. As the eighth site in the company's R&D network, the center will focus on infectious causes of cancer endemic to China and Asia and pharmaceutical research. Scientists will initially occupy a 5,000-square meter facility slated to open in May of 2007. Construction will begin in July 2007 on a permanent 38,000-square meter building to house 400 scientists.
Amgen Inc. has completed construction of a 29,000-sf process-development laboratory at its manufacturing site in West Greenwich, Rhode Island. The $26-million facility will house nearly 80 researchers engaged in discovering more efficient processes of manufacturing Embrel, a rheumatoid arthritis drug. Amgen is also constructing an eight-story, 362,000-sf lab and office building in Cambridge's Kendall Square in Massachusetts to house R&D operations. Completion of the Cambridge facility is expected in the first quarter of 2007.
The University of Alberta is constructing a $250-million facility on its Edmonton campus for the faculties of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Law. Expected to open in phases beginning in fall of 2007, the building will enable the University to expand its interdisciplinary health sciences research and educational activities. Areas of study in the building include pharmaceutical sciences, spinal cord research, cardiovascular translational research, gastrointestinal inflammation research, and viral hepatitis research.
Millipore Corp. opened its 110,000-sf Bioprocess R&D center in Bedford, Mass., in October of 2006. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the facility contains 47,000 sf of laboratory space. The $50-million building will accommodate development of full-scale applications performance data and processes that simulate commercial conditions and will increase the speed and quality of biopharmaceutical production.
AstraZeneca has opened two new research laboratories in the United Kingdom in September of 2006. The £60 million ($112 million) Cancer Research Area Building in Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire is the largest facility in AstraZeneca's international research and development network and houses laboratory space for 265 scientists in the disciplines of bioscience, chemistry, and pharmacokinetics and includes mass spectroscopy and NMR equipment. The £16 million ($30 million) Biology Building has opened at the company's Charnwood, Loughborough, Leicesters
Gemini Science Inc. (GSI) and La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI) completed a new 145,000-sf collaborative research facility in La Jolla, Calif., in July of 2006. Located in the UC San Diego Science Research Park, the facility was designed by Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker and built by DPR Construction.
The State University of New York (SUNY) has selected The S/L/A/M Collaborative to design three new science projects. At SUNY Buffalo, the 145,000-sf Acheson Hall will be renovated to provide a new home for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the South Campus. The former chemistry building will be completely gutted and renovated to provide new classroom and biotech research space in a LEED® certified facility.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is putting a total of 900,000 sf of office space in Princeton, N.J., on the market with the intent to establish a long term leaseback. Part of the company's restructuring of its real estate holdings, the facilities to be sold are at two locations. The 77 Scudders Mill road site is comprised of 106 acres with three five-story office buildings connected by an underground service concourse with a multimedia studio. Permits are in place for a fourth five-story office building at the site as well as preliminary approval for two more buildings.
Emergent BioSolutions dedicated its 50,000-sf vaccine production plant in Lansing, Mich., on July 21, 2006. The $75-million, three-story facility will enable the company to expand production capacity for its anthrax vaccine, BioThrax®, as well as providing space for future immunobiotics development. Construction on the plant began in February 2006 and is expected to reach completion in early 2007, with FDA certification slated for 2008. The 24/7/365 facility will accommodate 275 employees. Emergent BioSolutions is part of BioPort Corporation.
Merck is constructing a $300-million vaccine manufacturing plant on 256 acres in the Treyburn Corporate Park in Durham, N.C. The 272,000-sf complex will be comprised of four buildings for production, administration, power, and warehouse space. Slated to be fully operational in 2008, the facility will employ approximately 200 workers engaged in the production of two vaccines, one for chicken pox and the other for measles, mumps, and rubella.
German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG will break ground in July 2006 on a $100-million expansion of its manufacturing facility in East Walpole, Mass. The facility, occupied by Bayer's medical diagnostics division, produces reagents used in diagnostic tests for cancer and heart disease. The 400,000-sf building will be expanded by 116,000 sf of additional manufacturing, warehouse, and storage space. Completion is expected by year-end 2008.
Completed in April 2005, Pfizer's 62,000-sf Clinical Research Unit (CRU) in New Haven, Conn., features state-of-the-art, flexible lab and research space for clinical trials of drug certification products and accommodates 50 volunteers and 50 staff. Designed by the architectural firm The S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, Conn., and built by Whiting Turner of New Haven, the CRU has been awarded Silver LEED™ certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the first such designation for a building in Connecticut.
