Southern California Wildfires Force Red Alert Status, Closures for Pharma-Bio Facilities

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--California's raging wildfires have affected a lot more than the hundreds of homes that were destroyed this week. The Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry has a major presence in San Diego County, and companies have taken steps to secure their employees' safety and peace of mind. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has led the way by closing the doors of its huge La Jolla research facility. With more than 1,000 employees, the company decided that closing the site would allow its people to deal with any personal issues arising from the fires.

While Pfizer's site is in no immediate danger from the fires, others, including the University of California San Diego (UCSD) with its massive life science research campus, are on red alert. The air is laden with thick black smoke and all nonessential UCSD employees have been advised to stay home. The precautions are more of a direct health issue rather than the labs themselves being in danger.

Click the image for a chart of operational plants in San Diego County.

A who's who of life-science companies are under constant vigil, monitoring the conditions from the fire, including Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) (New Brunswick, New Jersey), Genentech (NYSE:DNA) (South San Francisco, California), Novartis International AG (NYSE:NVS) (NYSE:NVS) (Basel, Switzerland) and several others. Many of the research centers that work with animals must have evacuation plans ready to go on short notice. Another issue of concern in a region that engages so heavily in drug research is the loss of invaluable data and product.

In San Diego County alone, as reported within Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker, there are 42 life science facilities employing more than 9,000 people. Collectively, those sites have generated $1.8 billion in capital investment, for both completed and active projects. That results in an average total investment value for each site of nearly $43 million.

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