Wyeth-Lederle Invests Over $200 Million in North Carolina Vaccine Facility

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Inc.; Houston, Texas). Seemingly inoculated against the economic maladies facing many other US industries, pharmaceutical companies, such as Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines (Philadelphia, PA), a subsidiary of American Home Products (Madison, New Jersey) (NYSE: AHP), are consistently launching multi-million dollar capital projects. Wyeth is continuing with an ambitious expansion program at its Sanford, NC facility, the scene of ongoing investment since being developed 15 years ago. The 215-acre site is dedicated to the manufacturing, as well as the research and development, of pediatric vaccines that immunize against bacterial infections.

A $48 million fast-track expansion of their bulk manufacturing capabilities was recently completed and was planned to support production of two new Wyeth vaccines, Prevenar and Meningitac. ADP Marshall Inc. (Rumford, RI), a Fluor Daniel (NYSE: FLR) (Aliso Viejo, CA) company, was the general contractor for the job, which included a 46,000 square foot building and the installation of new process equipment. Fluor also providing the engineering for this latest $250 million expansion, which focuses on a 115,000 square foot building addition and supporting equipment to increase production.

R&D laboratory additions are also underway. The current R&D facilities include fermentation suites, microbiological labs, and Class 10,000 purification suites along with dry formulation labs for the lyophilization and handling of viral products. Utilities include hot WFI generation, compressed air systems (USP), bottled gas distribution, clean steam systems, process chilled water systems, and biological waste decontamination systems. Wyeth is expected to hire 130 additional employees by 2003, when the current work is expected to be complete, bringing the site's total employee count to 580.