Top 10 North American Pharma-Biotech Capital Projects for 2007 Deliver $4.1 Billion Investment

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). When only considering the current top 10 capital projects sourced out of the Pharma-Biotech sector from the 465 that are expected to begin construction this year, the result is still a most impressive cumulative total investment value (TIV) of $4.17 billion. That gives each of those ten projects an incredible average TIV of $417 million. Each of the ten are located within North America and are forecast to begin construction sometime during 2007. All project data discussed is drawn from a recent analysis of current reports monitored within Industrial Info’s Pharmaceutical Tracker.

Click at right to view the Top 10 North Pharma-Biotech Industry Projects for 2007.

The 2007 figures virtually mirror 2006, with just a negligible increase. The 2006 total TIV was $4.14 billion, which resulted in an average project TIV of $414 million. Both years are dominated by projects to build new medical research facilities, a trend that is not expected to dissipate anytime soon. The also shared the fact that all of the major capital projects in the sampling were to support production of vaccines or biologicals. Traditional pharma manufacturing projects were completely off the top 10 radar in both years.

The University of Alberta is at the top of 2007 spending thus far, with plans to begin construction on the $580 million Edmonton Health Science Clinic project. Designed by HOK Canada (Toronto, Ontario) and being built by PCL (Edmonton, Alberta), the project is expected to begin later this year. When complete, over 1 million square feet of building space will have been added offering interdisciplinary research, diagnostics and patient care.

Shire PLC (Wayne, Pennsylvania) set off a fierce site selection race while it decides exactly where to build it’s nearly $400 million biomanufacturing plant. Lexington, Massachusetts appears to have landed the project but nothing is finalized at this point.

Another major project that began this year is the $400 million Novartis (NYSE:NVS) (East Hanover, New Jersey) vaccine plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Jacobs (Cary, North Carolina) is overseeing construction of the new plant, which will have 150MM per year dosage capacity when operational. The company will use the product to help fulfill its vaccine supply contract with the U.S. government.

The town of West Chester, Ohio celebrated when Amylin Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, California) decided to lay down some serious cash to establish a manufacturing campus. Following an initial $75+ million outlay, the company has gone on to promise another $400 million capital investment at the site.

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