Pharmaceutical

Human Genome Sciences (HGS) is nearing completion of its $250-million manufacturing facility in Rockville, Md. Sited on ten acres on the Belward Research Campus of Johns Hopkins University near HGS' existing headquarters, the 290,000-sf facility will enable HGS to produce several different biotech drugs on a commercial scale including human proteins, antibodies, and fusion proteins created by the joining of two genes. Construction is expected to reach completion by year-end 2005 with validation of the facility to follow in 2006. 

Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis AG has renovated the historic 1927 New England Candy Co. factory in Cambridge to create a 500,000-sf biomedical research facility. The renovated building now houses labs, offices, breakout rooms, a 180-seat auditorium, two conference rooms, and a six-story atrium. Designed to foster interaction and collaboration, the labs and offices are co-located, with breakout rooms and kitchens on the perimeter of each floor. The building features state-of-the-art power, water, air handling, communications, and security systems.

The University of Florida is developing the 23,500-gsf Center of Excellence for Regenerative Heath Biotechnology in Alachua County, Fla. Sited 13 miles from the University's Gainesville campus in the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator in the Progress Corporate Park, the facility will house up to 11,080 sf of cleanrooms and support space.

Corixa Corp., a developer of immunotherapeutics, has completed its new 130,000-sf headquarters in Seattle, Wa. Designed by Seattle-based MBT Architects, the five-story facility includes a lobby and reception area with a fireplace, two decks, dining, seminar room, and workout room. Designed to foster communication and interaction, the headquarters features warm wood and color tones which carry into the flexible, open laboratories. On each floor, two large labs are connected to each other with adjoining support spaces.

St. Louis-based Monsanto Co . is planning to construct a $21-million data center at its Creve Coeur, Mo., campus. Construction on the 40,000-sf facility will begin in early 2006 with completion expected in summer 2007. The project team consists of two St. Louis-based firms, Fox Architects and engineering firm William Tao & Associates.

Nabi BioPharmaceuticals dedicated its new 12,000-sf vaccine manufacturing facility in Boca Raton, Fla., in June, 2005. Sited at the company's existing headquarters, the $20-million facility will produce StaphVax, a vaccine for the prevention of hospital-born staph infections.

Schering-Plough Corp. is consolidating biopharma research operations in Palo Alto, Calif. Subsidiary Canji Inc. will be relocated to merge with Schering-Plough's DNAX Research Institute to create an integrated company called Schering-Plough Biopharma. The 68,000-sf facility, where DNAX is located, will be fully operational by the third quarter of 2005. Schering-Plough Biopharma will focus primarily on biologics research including monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins.

Pfizer has selected CRB Builders of St. Louis as construction manager for a $20-million production facility located at the pharmaceutical company's manufacturing complex in Portage, Mich. The facility, referred to as Building 248, is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2006. Building 248 will produce Pfizer's Dectomax and Revolution animal health products.

Bayer Healthcare has completed a 100,000-sf office and laboratory facility in Norwood, Mass. Designed by Margulies & Associatesof Boston, the new space consists of 80,000 sf of administrative offices and support areas as well as 20,000 sf of laboratories. Supporting the company's Diagnostics Division, the facility includes visitor and training labs, a test methods lab, an analytical lab, a systems engineering lab, storage for chemicals, and controlled-temperature storage coolers.

Schering-Plough Corporation has awarded Skanska USA Building the construction management services contract to renovate six office buildings and a cafeteria in Summit, New Jersey. Including the renovation of the campus' teledata infrastructure, the anticipated value of the project is expected to be more that $12 million. Completion is expected in December 2005.

Needham-based Avant Immunotherapeutics opened its 11,800-sf pilot manufacturing plant in Fall River, Mass., in early November 2004. Accommodating the creation of vaccines in various stages of clinical trials, the facility is sited in MassDevelopment's South Coast Research and Technology Park.

Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis-based manufacturer of medical products, is expanding with a relocation of its pharmaceutical R&D laboratory to Webster Groves, Mo. Renovation of the 65,000-sf facility is expected to reach completion is spring of 2005. Housing approximately 100 employees, the facility will enable Mallinckrodt, a business unit of Mansfield, Ma.-based Tyco Healthcare, to expand its pharmaceutical research and generic drug development capabilities.

Merck opened the 300,000-sf Edward M. Scolnick Research Center in Boston in early October 2004. Featuring 12 stories above ground and six stories below ground, the facility will accommodate a total of 500 employees, including 400 scientists developing treatments for obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Sited on the Emmanuel College campus, the biomedical research center was designed by architectural and engineering firm Kling.

Design of Roche Diagnostic 's new 440,000-sf PCR Manufacturing Center in Branchburg, N.J., is nearing completion. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is leading-edge technology in the field of molecular diagnostics. The facility will include a new state-of-the-art 230,000-sf pharmaceutical manufacturing center, a 32,000-sf office building (completed), and the renovation of a 180,000-sf existing laboratory and office headquarters for Roche Molecular Systems. The manufacturing facility is slated for completion in November 2004.

Novavax has completed the relocation of its headquarters from Columbia, Md., to 33,000 sf in the Great Valley Corporate Center in Malvern, Pa. The facility will enable the consolidation of Novavax's women's health and drug delivery operations in a single facility. Novavax will continue to occupy two R&D labs, one located in Rockville, Md., and one in California.