From Staples to Stents: Medical Device Sector Invests $2.4 Billion in Active Capital and MRO Projects

Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Most people have at least one medical device. Some, like thermometers, are kept in medicine chests; others, like a cardiac stent, are implanted in a person's chest. It is a heady time for the industry and for patients as new options make it to market. 3-D printers capable of making prosthetic limbs, optical scanners that eliminate the need for surgical biopsies, needle-free drug delivery--the list of new products is limited only by inventors' imaginations.

Just to keep up with the burgeoning demand, the sector has $2.4 billion in active reported capital investment in North America, despite the burden of the controversial 2.3% medical device excise tax ushered in with the Affordable Care Act. A recent analysis of active reported projects in Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical-Biotech Database revealed 135 projects representing a total investment value (TIV) of $2.4 billion. Those figures translate to an average TIV of about $18 million.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing medical-device projects in North America.

All of the projects are in various stages of development, ranging from planning to construction, for everything from scheduled maintenance programs to grassroot manufacturing plants. Of the 135 projects analyzed, 92 have a future kick-off date and account for $781 million TIV.

The largest of the currently active projects is Baxter International's (NYSE:BAX) (Deerfield, Illinois) $300 million plan for its Gambro Renal division. Sited in Opelika, Alabama, the project will expand kidney (hemodialysis) dialyzers production. CRB Consulting Engineers (Kansas City, Missouri) is overseeing both design and construction management, building a 230,000-square-foot facility equipped to more than double the site's existing production capacity, from 10 million units per year to 28 million.

Another major project is the plan by Illumina Incorporated (NASDAQ:ILMN) (San Diego, California) to invest $149 million in a new genome sequencing campus in Foster City, California. Located on the former of site of Life Technologies, two new, 185,000-square-foot buildings will be built to LEED Gold standards. When construction is complete, the site will consolidate various existing Illumina locations in Northern California, allowing for expanding research and development of genome sequencing equipment and technologies.

The Illumina campus is being developed as a build-to-suit, and is owned by REIT BioMed Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:BMR) (San Diego, California). Other current project team members include architects HOK Incorporated (San Francisco, California) and consultant Urban Planning Partners (Oakland, California). Construction should launch in early 2016.

MicroPort Orthopedics (Arlington, Tennessee) and its five-year, $100 million expansion and renovation of its 250,000-square-foot facility in Arlington, Tennessee, qualifies as a major. In addition to expanding manufacturing and development capacity of orthopedic implants and medical instruments, the company is adding a training and education facility for surgeons. The project team includes Johnson Bailey Henderson McNeel Architects (Columbus, Mississippi), ENA Engineering (Arlington, Tennessee) and Grinder Hazlip Construction (Memphis, Tennessee).

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.