Pharma-Biotech Industry Capital Investment Tops $5 Billion for First-Quarter 2016 North American Project Starts

Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As the first quarter of 2016 gathers steam, the Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry is projected to launch over $5 billion worth of North American projects through the end of March. A healthy cash injection of that magnitude is cause for jubilation, or at the least, cautious optimism. This robust investment of capital and maintenance dollars represents a 100% leap over the first-quarter 2015 figure of $2.5 billion. Another heartening aspect about the figures is the fact that quite a few of the first-quarter 2016 projects involve manufacturing expansions.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing first-quarter 2016 project kickoffs in the North American Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry.

The forecast investment of $5.2 billion in capital and maintenance (MRO) spending is spread out over 192 projects, resulting in a $27 million project average. Turning out the high project average total investment value (TIV) that vendors to the industry have come to expect, the first-quarter 2016 figures increased 37% over last year's first quarter project average TIV of $17 million.

A look at some of the individual projects reveals some interesting site selections. No longer limited to the traditional "hubs," a number of notable projects are located in rather unexpected cities.

One of the largest projects with a planned first-quarter 2016 kick-off is Medicago Incorporated's (Quebec City, Quebec) $245 million plan to construct a vaccine production plant in Quebec City. The company wants a to build a 474,000- square-foot plant capable of producing up to 50 million doses per year of plant-based quadrivalent seasonal flu vaccines, along with drug development laboratory space.

Hillsboro, Oregon has been tapped by Roche's Genentech (South San Francisco, California) as the site for a $125 million biotherapeutic fill and finish unit addition. The project will add a third aseptic fill/finish production suite within the company's existing 300,000-square-foot plant, expanding the current fill/finish capacity of 20 million vials (3cc to 100cc) per year. NNE Pharmaplan (Morrisville, North Carolina) is the project A&E consultant.

Engineered BioPharmaceuticals Incorporated (Danville, Virginia) is investing $10 million to build a 60,000-square-foot contract manufacturing plant to produce dry powder protein-based pharmaceuticals. The project will be located within the City of Danville's Cyber Park, in Virginia. A number of factors impact these figures. All projects, in all phases, up to and including start of construction, are subject to delays or schedule changes. Some will start on time as reported, while others could be moved out, put on hold or cancelled. Conversely, others not originally scheduled to begin until a later date, will sometimes launch early. Adding to the mix are previously unknown projects uncovered and reported.

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