Pharmaceutical

Sweden-based AstraZeneca is adding 80,000-sf to its 190,000-sf Waltham facility. The project is slated for completion in 2003.

Kinetic Biosystems of Atlanta will locate a $40-million contract biomanufacturing plant for its KBI BioPharma division in the Triad region of North Carolina. The facility, to be housed initially in at least 30,000-sf on a site of 3 to 10 acres, will be a pilot plant for developing processes for manufacturing clinical-trial drug quantities using monoclonal antibodies. Greensboro, N.C., already houses one Kinetic Biosystems office.

Swiss pharmaceutical Novartis AG is renovating over 500,000-sf at the Necco (New England Confectionary Company) property in Cambridge for biotech use. Novartis plans to employs 600 technology experts, scientists and support staff at the facility. The lease is in addition to Novartis' previous Cambridge lease of 450,000 sf to house its worldwide research group.

The University of Georgia is planning to build a $10-million, 33,000-sf commercial pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at the University's Riverbend Research Village in Athens. Designed by Lockwood Green of Spartanburg, S.C., the project's construction will be managed by Atkins Hanscomb Faithful & Gould of Atlanta. The building will include research labs, classrooms, offices, and bioprocessing and manufacturing space for solid oral dosage medicines. The project is slated for groundbreaking in May 2003.

Serologicals Corp. of Atlanta will decide the location of a second Ex-Cyte manufacturing facility by November 30. Several locations in the Midwest are being considered as the site of the $28-million plant. Completion is slated for the first half of 2004, with a 15 to 18 month construction period.

Serologicals provides biological products and technologies for the research, development, and manufacture of biologically-based life science products.

UCB Pharma, a developer and commercializer of allergy/asthma medications and central nervous system disorder treatments, will occupy a new 110,000-sf, $15-million facility in early 2003. UCB Pharma currently employs 450 workers.

Wyeth Vaccines is building a $200-million, 150,000-sf facility in Sanford, N.C. Designed by Flad & Associates, the project is slated for completion in December of 2003. Contractor Fluor Corp. is joined on the project team by engineering firms CRB Consulting Engineers, McKim & Creed and Tai & Associates.

Eckerd Drug is expanding its distribution operations with a move into a 415,000-sf facility in the Fairless Hills' Penn Warner Industrial Park. The building houses 14,000-sf of office space. Substantial renovations to the single-story building will be completed by owner Equity Industrial Partners prior to Eckerd's occupation of the building in the fourth quarter of 2002. Eckerd will maintain its 450,000-sf of leased space between the Bucks County Industrial Park in Langhorne and Morrisville.

Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth is leasing two buildings adjacent to its existing Collegeville headquarters. A 100,000-sf building will provide office space, and a smaller 75,000-sf building will house a training center. Owned by Berwind Property Group, the facilities will be ready for occupation in spring of 2003.

Scios Inc. is relocating its corporate headquarters to Ardenwood Corporate Center in Fremont, Calif. The new two-building location will allow the biopharmaceutical company to increase its operations by 70% to approximately 190,000 sf. The facility will house research labs, medical affairs, and business administration. Scios, currently located 20 miles away in Sunnyvale, expects to complete the phased move by September 2003.

Durham, N.C.-based Trimeris is considering the purchase of 40 acres of land in Research Triangle Park to consolidate its operations in a campus-like setting. Trimeris, developer of a potentially successful AIDS treatment, has already selected a developer to plan the project.

Versicor, a Fremont, Calif.-based drug developer, will relocate its headquarters to Philadelphia where its clinical development operations are based. Versicor develops drugs for the hospital market which fight difficult-to-treat infections.

Avalon Pharmaceuticals, a genomics-based research company, has relocated its headquarters to a 55,000-sf facility in Germantown, Md., featuring expanded research and development capabilities. The headquarters, sited in the Seneca Meadows Corporate Center, should be operational in the first quarter of 2003.

Impax, a pharmaceutical company engaged in reformulating generic versions of popular drugs, has opened a new 85,000-sf research and manufacturing facility in Hayward where the company is based. Impax will increase its employee base from 85 to 190 by the end of 2002.

Diosynth, a Netherlands-based pharmaceutical company, is planning to purchase 91.3 acres of land in Research Triangle Park (RTP) on which to build 300,000 sf of new manufacturing space. Diosynth currently has labs and offices in Cary, N.C., totalling 30,000 sf and 110,000 sf of manufacturing space in RTP.