Top 10 2008 North American Pharma-Biotech Industry Capital Projects Inject $2.4 Billion Investment

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). When considering only the current top 10 Pharmaceutical-Biotech capital projects from the 571 that are expected to begin construction this year, the result is an impressive cumulative total investment value (TIV) of $2.4 billion. In addition, none of these 10 projects are from the university or public sectors, all are sourced from pharmaceutical or biotech manufacturing sectors. Each of the ten projects represents an average TIV of $240 million. All are located throughout North American and are currently forecast to begin construction sometime during 2008. All project data discussed is drawn from a recent analysis of current reports monitored within Industrial Info’s Pharmaceutical Tracker.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the Top 10 list.

The 2008 figures dipped just slightly from 2007, down $100 million or 4% from last year’s $2.5 billion and average project TIV of $250 million. Both years’ spending exemplifies the industry’s ongoing trend to invest in the production of vaccines or biologicals, as well as those projects to expand research capacity.

Shire PLC (Wayne, Pennsylvania) is currently at the top for 2008, with plans to begin construction of its long anticipated $360 million biomanufacturing plant. While Lexington, Massachusetts appears to have landed the project, in the tricky and highly competitive site selection game, nothing is final until the building rises.

Another major project scheduled to begin construction this year is Solvay Pharma USA’s (Marietta, Georgia) $350 million vaccine production plant in Birmingham, Alabama. The project was yet another plum sought by a number of other states eager for the investment before Birmingham took the honors.

Drug testing giant Covance (NYSE:CVD) (Princeton, New Jersey) has snapped up the former Eli Lilly & Company (NYSE:LLY) (Indianapolis, Indiana) site in Virginia. After Lilly halted construction on the plant, which was intended to manufacture insulin, state officials were devastated at the loss. Covance now intends to invest a minimum of $175 million to transform the Manassas site into a drug development center.

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