Pharmaceutical

San Diego-based Structural GenomiX will lease a 10,000-sf facility for Eli Lilly & Co. as part of a research collaboration announced April 21, 2003. Lilly will install technology in the facility over the course of 12 to 18 months, after which Lilly can opt to transfer the system to its Indianapolis headquarters or staff the existing location. The facility will house 10 to 15 Structural Genomics scientists involved in determining the three-dimensional structure of several proteins that are potential targets for new drugs.

Pfizer has awarded Montbleau and Associates the contract for laboratory furniture and architectural woodwork at seven facilities totaling 500,000 sf in Torrey Pines, Calif. The project architect is Kornberg Associates with DPR Construction as general contractor.

Merck is developing a 300,000-sf research center in Boston slated for completion in 2004. Merck is also adding 35,000 sf to its 128,000-sf  San Diego facility.

Centocor is planning to construct a new headquarters facility in Spring House, Pa., doubling the capacity of the Malvern site that the company will vacate. Occupancy is slated for the fourth quarter of 2005, with construction reaching completion by the end of 2006. Centocor will also relocate a majority of its operations from locations in Malvern, Radnor, and Trediffryn to 200,000-sf at the Commonwealth Corporate Center Horsham. The space will accommodate between 700 and 800 employees and will be renovated prior to the relocation.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals has selected a subsidiary of Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group to provide engineering services for a new active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing plant at Janssen's existing Little Island site in Ireland. The facility will expand manufacturing operations for existing products and will produce one new aseptic API product. Janssen, based in Titusville, N.J., is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Vista-based BioFilm Inc.'s new headquarters will be built on 3.52 acres in the Palomar Corporate Center in Vista, Calif. The 60,860-sf leased facility, developed by Moxie Pacific Palomar LLC, will be ready for occupancy by Jan. 1, 2004.

Biopharmaceutical company Centocor has leased an additional 46,000 sf in Radnor, Pa., bringing its total site operations up to 204,000 sf. Centocor is a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Johnson and Johnson. The facility, owned by The Rubenstein Co., was vacated by Wyeth in its relocation to a new campus in Collegeville in Montgomery County, Pa.

More than doubling its West Coast capacity, Cardinal Health will expand its San Diego sterile manufacturing facility by 70,000 sf. The expansion will enable Cardinal to increase its production of freeze-dried pharmaceuticals and liquid products. The project, which will provide space for an additional 125 employees, will begin later in 2003. Cardinal, based in Dublin, is a global provider of goods and services to the health care industry.

EMD Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. subsidiary of Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck KGaA, will construct a $300-million biomanufacturing plant in Jena, Germany. The 200,000-sf facility will manufacture cancer drugs.

Altana AG, a Konstanz, Germany-based drug maker, opened its 25,000-sf Waltham, Mass., research offices in late January 2003. Part of a collaboration with Munich-based GPC Biotech, Altana has committed $120 million to develop its U.S. Genomics Research Institute in subleased space in GPC's 85,000-sf Waltham facility.

Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical is developing 6,400 sf of office and manufacturing space in Carlsbad, Calif. The facility, designed by JKE Design and Associates and built by Biostruct, will also house relocated tissue culture, biology and chemistry labs.

PPD, a Wilmington-based pharmaceutical and biotech discovery and development firm, has leased an additional 25,000-sf in Morrisville. PPD currently occupies four buildings totaling 283,000-sf at its expanding Triangle campus.

Tokyo, Japan-based drugmaker Eisai Co. is planning to begin construction in early 2004 on a $65-million R&D center in Andover, Mass. The facility will enable Eisai to double its U.S. basic research staff to as many as 170 employees. Eisai will also spend approximately $9-million on a second production line for drugs used in clinical testing at one of its existing U.S. research facilities.

Andrx Corp. paid a Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. affiliate company $28-million for a 500,000-sf manufacturing facility in Morrisville. Over the next five years Andrx will engage in a complete renovation and re-equipping of the building estimated to cost $85-million.  

Wilmington-based Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) is negotiating construction of an additional 70,000-sf facility at its Barclay Commons campus with developer Cameron. PPD, a contract research firm for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, has two existing buildings totaling 60,000-sf and 70,000-sf at the site.