It's a Wrap! Pharma-Bio Industry Set to Complete $2 Billion-Plus in North American Projects in 1Q17

Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry is on track to complete construction on 101 North American capital and MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) projects during the first quarter of 2017. A recent survey of reported projects in Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical-Biotech Online Platform reveals that the projects have a total investment value (TIV) of $2.29 billion.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing projects set to be completed by the end of the quarter, by region.

Sources for the first-quarter activity include private industry, commercial developers and universities. The projects reported include grassroot facilities, major building additions to existing sites and in-plant capital. The projects are varied in size and focus, with an average TIV of about $20 million.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN) (London, England) is expected to be putting the finishing touches on a $100 million renovation of its plant in Newark, Delaware. The project involved roughly 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of space out of the existing 575,000-square-foot facility. The area was refurbished and equipped to expand the packaging capacity of tablets (including Seroquel, Toprol-XL, Nolvadex), injectable solutions (including Merrem IV) and oral liquids.

In North Carolina, United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) (Silver Spring, Maryland) has built its $50 million "Xeno" project in Durham. On the 140-acre former GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) (Brentford, England) site, and adjacent to its own existing campus, the company built a 230,000-square-foot, star-shaped (central hub with six spokes), Designated Pathogen-Free (DPF) facility to process swine lungs for human transplantation.

Across the Pacific, The University of Hawaii at Hilo has built its long-awaited Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy building. In active planning dating back at least to 2009, the $33 million project investment covers the construction of a 45,000-square-foot building equipped with both wet laboratories and teaching space.

As is the case when dealing with the construction of any type of structure, further compounded by the nature of these projects, completion dates may go beyond what is reported. If the project involves manufacturing, the completion date may be over a year before the occupancy/operational date, due to commissioning and validation requirements.

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