Pharma-Biotech Industry Targets Fourth-Quarter Finish for 27 Facilities Potentially Worth $1.3 Billion

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The North American Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry is expecting 27 manufacturing plants and research facilities to complete construction during the fourth quarter of 2007. This figure represents an impressive 73% increase over the same quarter in 2006 when construction was wrapping up on only 13 plants. The new construction activity was drawn from a recent analysis of new plants that Industrial Info’s Pharmaceutical Tracker is identifying. All of the sites included in the analysis for the quarter have already begun construction and carry a potential total investment value (TIV) of $1.3 billion.

Click on the Image at right to view Pharma-Biotech Industry New Plants Online Analysis Chart.

The mid-Atlantic and southeastern regions both claim the top spot for the quarter, with each expecting five new sites to be completed. Last year, the Great Lakes region claimed the majority of activity for the quarter. This year, the region is in second place, with the completion of four new facilities before the end of the year. The Midwest, Northeast and West Coast expect three new sites each, followed by individual plants coming online in New England, Quebec, the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest.

A look at the Pharmaceutical-Biotech plant data at the state level reveals that once again, Maryland leads the quarter with three plants wrapping up construction. California and Puerto Rico each expect two sites to be complete before the end of the year. All of the remaining plants, except for one in Quebec, Canada, are spread throughout the United States.

When considering the TIV of plant construction, the Pharmaceutical-Biotech sites for the fourth quarter of 2007 represent a current and potential TIV of more than $1.3 billion. Despite the jump in the number of new sites for the quarter, the TIV is even when compared with the TIV of $1.3 billion for the same period last year. These figures translate to an average site TIV of $48 million for 2007, down from last year’s $118 million. The reasons for the disparity are varied, with any number of issues popping up during construction that could change a project’s completion date. If the change occurs at the beginning or the end of a quarter, it completely moves the spending into another time frame.

Currently, the largest existing and potential investment of any of the current quarter’s facilities is the Johns Hopkins’ biomedical research center wrapping up at its Bayview campus in Baltimore, Maryland. The $250 million project began in 2004 with Skanska USA handling construction.

At the other end of the spectrum, officials in Bothell, Washington, would be delighted if Sonus Pharmaceutical follows through on plans to eventually invest $2 million to expand at its new location. The company will be relocated to its new 45,000-square-foot home in Bothell before the end of the year. The company’s focus is on vitamin E-based cancer treatments.

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