Turner Construction Puts Finishing Touches on $32 Million Maryland Biotech Production Lab for United Therapeutics

---

Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Final preparations are now underway on United Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:UTHR) (Silver Spring, Maryland) $32 million biotech lab production building. Turner Construction’s Pharmaceutical Group (Somerset, New Jersey) served as the project’s design-build contractor, which was built adjacent to United’s existing biotech headquarters on Spring Street in Silver Spring. United was founded in 1996 and is among the growing list of promising biotech companies (as discussed in the newly released 2006 Pharmaceutical-Biotech Forecast) with healthy drug pipelines.

Construction of the three-story, 50,000 square-foot lab and pilot production facility began in 2004, with completion expected later this spring, which was first reported by Industrialinfo.com’s Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database in November 2003. United purchased the building site for $2.9 million and then worked out a development package for the project with North Carolina’s Wachovia Development. Wachovia developed and funded construction of the building and will then lease it back to United in an agreement that runs through 2011. At that time, United will then have the option to either purchase the facility or extend the lease.

United will use the facility for both drug development and pilot-production of its products, which includes Remodulin that is used to treat pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure) in the lungs. Another of the company’s drugs is about to begin U.S. Phase III clinical trials - Ovarex, a monoclonal antibody developed for use by people with stage III/IV advanced ovarian cancer who are simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy. The drug targets a protein that is present in the majority of ovarian cancer patients and is designed to help patients' immune systems both recognize and more effectively fight the cancer. Ovarian cancer is reportedly the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the U.S.

View Plant Profile - 1062155
View Project Repor - 26000831

Industrial Information Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 22 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.