2009 Midyear New-Build Update: Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry Completes Construction of 40 North American Facilities

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The first six months of one of the toughest years in recent history are almost over. A recent analysis of new builds for the North American Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry has revealed some surprisingly positive news in the form of 40 new manufacturing plants and research centers (source: Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database). Every market region has enjoyed the addition of at least one new site becoming operational during the first six months of this year.

Click on image at right for a breakdown by region of new plant builds in the Pharma-Biotech Industry in the first six months of 2009.

The 40 new builds represent a combined potential total investment value (TIV) of $3.9 billion. This figure includes both the cost of the original construction and any reported expansion projects at the site and averages out to an impressive average site TIV of $97.5 million. When comparing these figures to the same period in 2008, the industry is ahead by five sites and $2.2 billion over last year's potential $1.7 billion TIV--a jump of 129%. This eye-opening difference was greatly increased by the start of the first phase of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's (NYSE:BMY) (New York, New York) $1.1 billion biological manufacturing plant in Devens, Massachusetts.

The Northeast topped the charts with seven new sites coming online, followed by a tie for second, with the Southeast and the West Coast both adding six new facilities to their industry rosters. From a state standpoint, Florida was the clear-cut leader, as the Sunshine State welcomed four new builds since January. The remaining plants and research centers were portioned out one or two to a state, each of which was happy to land the project.

The new builds were sourced from both the public and private sector and ranged in TIV from the aforementioned Bristol-Meyers Squibb plant to a $4 million medical device distribution center/warehouse that Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, California) opened in Richmond, California, earlier this year. The sites have the potential to eventually employ 4,600, although most will initially start with considerably less.

A good example of the emerging trend of combining public and private industry monies is the opening of the first phase of Castle & Cooke entrepreneur David Murdock's Kannapolis Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The site brings together universities and companies, illustrated by projects such as Laboratory Corporation of America's (NYSE:LH) (Burlington, North Carolina) $25 million biorepository opening at the Kannapolis campus later this summer. Both Duke University and North Carolina State have interests at the site as well.

So, the question that could arise in light of this positive news might be to ask if the new builds and their respective investment/employment stats somehow offset the devastation of the recent tsunami of the industry's plant closures? The short answer is "no." A better answer is that sometimes a report on good news should be just that.

Industrial Info's 2009 Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry Outlook packages useful, timely and essential information and statistics into one easy-to-use format. Features include upcoming trends, vital plant and project statistics, as well as a capital and maintenance spending analysis derived from our information databases. The Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database contains operational plant data, as well as sites under development in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry. Individual active capital and maintenance spending reports spanning North America are also covered within the Pharmaceutical Tracker.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.