Roche Will Invest $650 Million to Construct Two New European Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plants

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). F. Hoffman-La Roche Limited (NASDAQ:RHHBY) (Basel, Switzerland) will invest $320 million at its site in Basel, Switzerland and another $320 million at their site in Penzberg, Germany. Both investments will go toward construction of new production facilities for the companies anti-cancer therapies, Avastin and Herceptin. Roche is estimating that approximately 150 new jobs will be added at each facility by the time production begins in the first half of 2008.

The project at Basel, which also serves as the global headquarters for Roche, will require the demolition and cartage of an existing building on site to clear room for the new nine-story production building. The building will contain production floors, laboratories, Bio-3 clean rooms, offices, and packaging areas. Herzog & de Meuron Architekten (Basel, Switzerland), an esteemed European architectural firm, designed the building for Roche.

At the Penzberg site, which is reportedly the largest biotechnology manufacturing facility in all of Europe, Roche is planning a five-story production building that will also house production floors, bio-3 clean rooms, and laboratories. The products will then be sent to Basel for packaging and distribution.

Currently, preliminary engineering is the focus for both of the projects, with the design scheduled to be complete in early 2005. Construction will follow immediately, with completion scheduled for early 2008.

Avastin, approved in February 2004, and is used in treating patients with colon or rectal cancer. It serves as an inhibitor of angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels deliver nutrients to a tumor. Herceptin is a treatment used on patients with breast cancer by releasing antibodies to boost the immune system, in turn slowing or preventing the growth of cancer cells.

View Plant Profiles- 1063885 1063851
View Project Reports- 82500014 73000199

Click the following link to view Industrialinfo.com's 2004 North American Pharmaceutical-biotech Forecast (featuring 2Q04 update) and entire Pharmaceutical-Biotech Database, featuring comprehensive plant profiles and project reports. 2004 Pharmaceutical Industry Forecast.