Pharmaceutical

U.S. pharmaceutical company Abbott opened the new 330,000-sf Abbott Biotechnology Limited plant in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, in spring of 2007. Housing over 80 cell growth vessels and 12,000 liter bioreactor tanks, the $450 million plant will accommodate production of monoclonal antibodies and large scale product manufacturing. The project delivery timeline for the plant included two years of construction and two years for completion of validation and regulatory approvals.

Merck is engaged in a $57-million expansion of its Stonewall plant in Elkton, Va. to accommodate demand for its Gardasil vaccine. The project is the second phase of expansion at the facility and includes construction of a new building and installation of purification technologies for pharmaceutical production. The first $40-million phase included a vaccine fermentation unit and was completed in 2006.

GlaxoSmithKline opened its new $13-million (US) medicinal chemistry laboratory in Singapore in March 2007. The facility is located in the biomedical research hub Biopolis and is part of GSK’s existing Centre for Research in Cognitive and Neurodegenerative Disorders. The laboratory will enable researchers to engage in collaborative biology and chemistry pre-clinical research.

Scripps Florida is planning to construct its new 350,000-sf facility on the Florida Atlantic University John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, Fla. Slated for completion in December 2008, the $18.6 million project will include three buildings. Building A will focus on chemistry, drug discovery, and translational research. Building B will focus on biotechnology, cells, genomes, and proteins, with an auditorium, cafeteria, and administrative offices. Building C will focus on biology and biomedical research.

AstraZeneca is initiating construction in the first half of 2007 on a $120-million Process Research and Development Laboratory in Macclesfield in the United Kingdom. Housing 170 scientists and specialists in the fields of chemistry, process engineering, and project management, the multidisciplinary facility will feature flexible lab space able to expand to accommodate up to 50 additional staff members in the future. The laboratory is scheduled to become operational in mid-2009.

Elan Corp. is planning the $100-million construction of two buildings in South San Francisco. Totaling 185,000 sf, the three-story facilities will be owned by developer Chamberlin Associates and leased by Elan, enabling the pharmaceutical firm to hire an additional 500 employees. The project is being designed by Dowler-Gruman Architects. 

GlaxoSmithKline is constructing a 2,500-square meter facility in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. The €23 million investment will provide space for granulation and compression operations for over-the-counter medicines.

Florida Atlantic University, in joint venture with the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, has opened the 40,000-sf Marine Science Education Building in Fort Pierce, Fla. The $11-million facility is sited near Harbor Branch’s campus and is owned by the University. The public-private partnership will provide space for biological, chemical, and marine science research in order to develop pharmaceutical products from marine organisms. The facility includes a conference area and laboratories with autoclave fermentation technology.

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.