Pharma-Biotech Plants to Grow 30% in ‘07

The pharmaceutical-biotech industry is expected to complete construction on 80 new facilities over the next 12 months, according to a report by Industrial Info Resources (www.industrialinfo.com). The report says the new sites represent $3.7 billion in total investment value. Recent analysis by Industrial Info shows 2007 new-build activity includes construction of manufacturing plants, research laboratories, and drug-distribution centers. This activity represents a 30 percent increase over 2006.

According to Industrial Info’s 2007 Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry Forecast, the site-selection process for pharmaceutical-biotech facilities has become quite competitive, as cities and towns from across both the United States and Canada seek to land these projects. Looking beyond the initial investment, officials hope the new construction attracts other investments from the life science sector.

Industrial Info’s research shows the Mid-Atlantic region currently lays claim to the largest number of new sites, with 11 plants expected to be finished next year. The region has long been a popular choice for all sectors of the industry, as it counts Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia among its states. Among those companies expecting to complete construction next year is Stiefel Laboratories’ (Coral Gables, Fla.) $50 million research institute being built in Durham, N.C. Eventual job creation in the entire region from all of the new-build activity could top 3,100, according to Industrial Info.

In a three-way tie for second place, the Great Lakes, Midwest, and West Coast regions are forecast to finish construction on 10 new sites each. Industrial Info says one of the more notable projects out of the Great Lakes is the $150 million Skokie Technology Innovation Complex, which is being developed by Forest City Enterprises on the 46-acre former Pfizer site in Skokie, Ill. The West Coast region expects completion in April 2007 of a $70 million manufacturing plant for Berlex (Montvale, N.J.) in Lynnwood, Wash. The company will use the facility to produce Leukine, a cancer treatment. In the Midwest, animal nutritionals company MVP Laboratories (Omaha, Neb.) is investing $2.5 million to relocate manufacturing and R&D to a two-building site in Omaha.

To view a regional breakdown of investment dollars across the United States, click here.