Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical giant Merck is constructing a 300,000-sf facility in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston. Slated to open in late 2004, the 18-story facility will employ 450 workers.

Andrx Corp. has awarded O’Neal Inc. of Greenville, S.C., the contract to renovate the first 70,000 sf of a 480,000-sf Morrisville, N.C., manufacturing facility that Andrx acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2003. The $23-million first phase will create laboratory, warehouse, packaging, and administrative space. Slated for occupancy in early 2005, the plant will employ 400 workers when it reaches full operational status, nearly doubling Andrx’s manufacturing capacity.

The Eisai Research Institute of Boston, a biopharmaceutical research firm, is planning a $50-million expansion and consolidation project in Andover, Mass. Eisai will break ground in late summer of 2004 on a 150,000-sf facility replacing a 66,825-sf office sited adjacent to the company’s existing 40,000-sf drug discovery facility. A new 5,000-sf addition is also included in the project, which involves the consolidation and relocation of Eisai’s Wilmington lab space to the new facility when it opens in 2006.

Chapel Hill-based Synthon Pharmaceuticals will construct a $20 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Mebane, N.C., that will employ between 100 and 120 workers.

United Therapeutics will construct a 40,000-sf ovarian cancer research lab and pharmaceutical manufacturing building adjacent to its headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. The $15-million lab is part of a 190,000-sf biotechnology campus planned by United Therapeutics. The new facility will manufacture OvaRex, an alternative to chemotherapy, in bulk for shipping to third-party manufacturers that will form it into pills.

Synthon Pharmaceuticals is planning to build a new $20 million pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Mebane, N.C. The 130,000-sf building will house corporate offices, R&D, and drug manufacturing operations. Groundbreaking is expected in early 2004. Synthon Pharmaceuticals is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Netherlands-based Synthon B.V.

GlaxoSmithKline has opened its new 220,000-sf manufacturing facility in Zebulon, N.C. The facility will employ 250 workers engaged in manufacturing inhaled respiratory products, including a device called the Advair Diskus.

Omnicare is planning a 56,235-sf expansion of its 56,600-sf headquarters in Covington, Ky. Project startup costs are estimated at approximately $3.2-million. Omnicare provides pharmaceutical services to the elderly.

The Düsseldorf, Germany-based Profil Institute for Metabolic Research is relocating its U.S. headquarters to 8,000-sf in Chula Vista, Calif. The facility is slated to open in October 2003 and will house administrative, research, and quality assurance operations. The Profil Institute is a clinical research organization that contracts with biotech and pharmaceutical firms to test experimental drugs for diabetes in metabolic disorders.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Kowa Co. has relocated its U.S. operations from San Jose, Calif., to 6,500 sf in Durham, N.C. Dubbed the Kowa Research Institute, the facility will accommodate drug technology research. Kowa is the first tenant in the 430 Davis Drive facility, a 152,000-sf Class A office building constructed by Keystone Corp.

Cleveland-based Quark Biotech will consolidate three offices in Pleasanton with a move to 20,000 sf in Fremont, Calif. The site is currently being renovated to house scientists engaged in drug development, including some drug discovery group employees developing microarrays that screen for possible drug targets. Occupancy is slated for August 2003.

BioMarin Pharmaceuticals will occupy 75,000 sf in two buildings at the Bel Marin Keys Park in Novato, Calif. BioMarin Pharmaceuticals already occupies five research and warehouse facilities at the park totalling approximately 158,000 sf.

EXP Pharmaceutical Services has leased 106,100 sf in Cal West Industrial Holdings’ Warm Springs Park in Fremont, Calif. The space includes over 90,000 sf of space for R&D and 15,000 sf for offices.    

Pfizer has selected The S/L/A/M Collaborative to design a new phase I clinical trials facility in New Haven, Conn. The 65,000-sf facility, slated for completion in 2004, will house phase I clinical trials space as well as research, office, laboratory and support facilities. The location of the three-story facility will foster collaboration with Yale Medical School, providing access to its imaging equipment for additional drug research on a cellular level.

Brisbane, Calif.-based VaxGen has opened an $11-million facility in South San Francisco that will manufacture the company’s anthrax vaccine, AIDS vaccine, and products ranging from smallpox vaccine to monoclonal antibodies. The 17,000-sf facility is adjacent to the company’s research and development operations, and features stainless steel bioprocessors and purifiers. The facility can be easily reconfigured as manufacturing requirements change as much of the equipment is on wheels.