Pharmaceutical

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is joining a growing wave of pharmaceutical research facilities that are incorporating small-scale manufacturing into their spaces. Fitting the manufacturing suites into an underground floor of an existing building was a challenge for architect, engineer, and scientist alike. The suites are designed to produce clinical vectors, important “vehicles” to which drug companies “attach” treatments so that those treatments reach the right location in a patient’s body.

Great Ormond Street Hospital opened the £42 million Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children in October of 2019 in London. Developed in partnership with University College London, the 140,000-sf translational research facility collocates biomedical laboratories, GMP manufacturing suites, clinical spaces, and offices to enable the creation of innovative medical devices and personalized gene and cell therapies.

Janssen Sciences Ireland, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, began constructing a $355 million, 206,000-sf pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in October of 2017 in Ringaskiddy. Existing facilities accommodating administration, logistics, and warehousing will also be expanded. Completion is expected in late 2019. 

Seattle Children’s Research Institute opened the $300 million Building Cure in October of 2019. The 540,000-sf translational research facility provides advanced laboratories for the development of innovative treatments for pediatric cancer, sickle cell anemia, ADHD, and diabetes. One entire floor of the building houses the Cure Factory, a GMP cell-therapy manufacturing center for the creation of personalized medicine solutions.

Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) is constructing a $60 million facility in Grand Rapids, Mich. Designed by CRB, the 61,500-sf facility will include a state-of-the-art cleanroom, two formulation suites, and 14,000 sf of shell space to accommodate future growth. Capable of producing a wide range of commercial batch sizes, the aseptic manufacturing plant will integrate leading-edge automation technologies and high-speed instrumentation to support the production of parenteral medicinal solutions.

Beacon Pharmaceuticals is planning to break ground by early 2020 on a 150,000-sf biosciences accelerator and headquarters facility in Jupiter, Fla. Designed by Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design, the $80 million facility will feature a pharmaceutical business incubator to support early-stage companies from concept to commercialization.

BioMed Realty and the University of California, San Diego opened the $92 million Center for Novel Therapeutics in September of 2019. Located on the Science Research Park campus in San Diego, the 137,500-sf translational research facility enables investigators from the UCSD Moores Cancer Center to collaborate with pharmaceutical partners on the creation of innovative cancer treatments. The center also houses the city's first academic-industry drug discovery incubator.

Pfizer is initiating a $500 million expansion of its Sanford campus with the construction of a 100,000-sf gene therapy facility. Supporting the creation of innovative treatments for genetic diseases, the project will feature advance manufacturing technologies for clinical and commercial-scale production of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. Accommodating 300 new employees, the facility will complement operations at the existing 628,000-sf Sanford complex and at the company's Chapel Hill and Kit Creek locations.

Amgen broke ground in late July of 2019 on a $200 million biomanufacturing center in West Greenwich, R.I. Featuring a highly flexible, modular design, the next-generation facility will leverage advanced technologies to reduce operational expenses, consume 80 percent less energy and water, and achieve a 75 percent decrease in carbon emissions.

HALIX is constructing a 72,000-sf cGMP facility at Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands. Utilizing 1000-liter, single-use bioreactors, the five-story building will accommodate the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical drug substances for clinical and commercial applications. Housing labs for process development, analytical development, and quality control, the structure will feature cleanrooms with unidirectional process flows with separate areas for protein manufacturing and the production of viral vaccines and viral vectors.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is expanding its presence in Seattle with the lease of a 100,000-sf headquarters building in Seattle. The lab and office facility is located in the Lake Union life science district and is being developed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Adaptive will occupy the entire structure, which is sited adjacent to its existing facility. Building amenities will include an open-air plaza, a rooftop desk, a fitness center, locker and shower rooms, and direct access to water sports on Lake Union.

Foundation Medicine will locate its 580,000-sf life science headquarters in a planned 625,000-sf building in Boston's Seaport Square. Designed by Morris Adjmi Architects and Stantec, the leased building will provide leading-edge research, collaboration, and administrative facilities to support the creation of innovative biomedical therapies.

Procter & Gamble is engaged in a $50 million renovation and expansion of the Reading Gillette Innovation Centre in the United Kingdom. The project includes the construction of new research labs and the renovation of an existing building and associated warehouses to create a two-story, 75,300-sf complex to house the Health Care Innovation Laboratories. Completion is expected in late 2019 with occupancy in 2020.

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 University of Cambridge will break ground in November of 2019 on the Heart and Lung Research Institute in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Sited adjacent to the Royal Papworth Hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the facility will accommodate 380 academic and industry scientists engaged in the discovery of new therapeutics and diagnostic tools for cardiovascular conditions.