Rhode Island Evolving into Biotech Hub with over $600 million in New Plant Construction

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The state may be small in size, but at least two major pharmaceutical companies have found Rhode Island the perfect fit for massive construction projects. Both Amgen (Thousand Oaks, California) (NASDAQ: AMGN) and Dow Biopharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Services (Midland, Michigan) (NYSE: DOW) are planning new manufacturing plants in the tiny state.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Amgen's existing West Greenwich, Rhode Island cell culture manufacturing facility for the production of Enbrel (registered trademark) (etanercept), a therapy for arthritis. Under the umbrella name of "BioNext", over $250 million in upgrade and expansion work was completed at the 250,000 square foot plant in 2002.

The plant's eight 8,000-liter bioreactors have been described as the largest bioreactors ever used in commercial cell culture production manufacturing. Unlike traditional drugs, which are made using chemicals, biotech products are made with proteins, which are grown in batches in bioreactors. The site began producing commercial quantities of Enbrel soon after the completion of the retrofit. The company was anxious for the approval, as it had been unable to add patients of the hugely popular drug due to under supply. The company continues to expect sales of Enbrel to range between $1.2 and $1.4 billion in 2003.

The new plant, which is being constructed next to the existing facility, will include both production, lab areas and warehousing is scheduled to come on line in 2005 and is valued at $500 million. Engineered by Aker Kvaerner Process (Bridgewater, N.J.), with Turner Construction (Dallas, Texas) handling construction management, the plant will house one of the largest bioreactors used in the industry, estimated to be 20,000 liters in capacity. There will also be a centralized utility area featuring water-for-injection (WFI), clean steam, and other central utility services.

Dow saw their plans to build a $100 million 200,000 square foot biopharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing plant in Smithfield, Rhode Island temporarily stall out last year over a land dispute. With the matter now settled amicably, Dow is moving ahead with the project, which will include expanded microbial fermentation capabilities, downstream processing, solvent extraction, solubilization, purification and bulk filling in clean rooms under cGMP conditions. Construction on the new plant is expected to start in 2004. In the meantime, Dow's existing 50,000 square foot biopharmaceutical research and development facility in Smithfield is ready to start $15 million in expansion and upgrade work.