march 07 update

The University of Rhode Island is breaking ground today for its Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, a project to which the state’s leading biotech employer, Amgen Inc., has committed $1 million. The new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences will include state-of-the art labs for DNA and other biotech research.

The $60 million, 140,000-square-foot facility, slated for completion in 2009, also will feature classroom and lecture space, faculty offices and incubator space to aid in the commercialization of new technologies.

Payette Associates of Boston is the project architect and Gilbane Building Co. of Providence will serve as construction manager for the new building, which will include a staircase in the shape of a DNA double helix.

It will serve as the anchor of the North District of URI’s Kingston Campus, which also will house new buildings for the pharmacy, nursing and chemistry programs, the university said.

The project’s public-private financing includes a $50 million state bond, approved by voters in 2004, and $10 million in donations.

AstraZeneca Will Build a Research Facility in Shanghai’s

AstraZeneca (AZN) will build a research facility in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, where it will locate its Innovation Centre China [ICC] temporarily. The goal of the center is to develop innovative medical products for Chinese patients, with an initial concentration on cancer. The facility will study Chinese patients, biomarkers and genetics. It aims to develop biomarkers for cancer.

AstraZeneca, which expects to open the facility in mid-2007, will hire at least 70 scientists and physicians in the new effort. They will join a staff of 2,900 people who already work in China for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca was the first multinational pharma to conduct large-scale international multi-center trials in China.

Charles River Labs will Establish a Presence in China Forming a Joint Venture with Shanghai BioExplorer

Charles River Labs (CRL), a medical research and services company, will establish a presence in China by forming a joint venture with Shanghai BioExplorer, which provides early-stage drug development services. Charles River will be the majority owner of the joint venture. As part of this initiative, Charles River will build a 50,000 square foot facility in Shanghai, which will open in mid-2008 and offer pre-clinical services. The facility will conduct GLP and non-GLP toxicology studies that meet FDA standards as well as Charles River's stringent animal welfare policies.

Ace Joins Classic for Medical Molding

Ace Plastics (Hong Kong) and Classic Industries (Latrobe, PA) completed a formal agreement to establish a joint venture company in Shanghai for molding of systems for health care and medical device OEM manufacturers. This operation will include medical mold building complemented by injection molding and assembly in a cleanroom operating under ISO13485.

“Combining the strengths of Ace and Classic will make us a very strong and competitive company in the medical industry,” said Jack Yeung, formerly VP sales and marketing and, since January 1, CEO of Ace. Ace Plastics has moldmaking and injection molding facilities in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China. Classic Industries is a medical molder and contract manufacturer, which, in addition to its new venture in China, also has two processing facilities in Pennsylvania, one in El Paso, TX and one in Puerto Rico.

New 95-bed Skilled Nursing Center under Construction

Under construction at 3000 Mockingbird is a new 95-bed skilled nursing center, with a name yet to be selected. The 38,000 square foot facility is being constructed by Smithers Merchant, the construction arm of Frisco Healthcare Development, which studies the Lone Star State and builds facilities where they see a need for the beds. Officials say they build 12 to 15 of the facilities around Texas each year.

Contractors are on site now and expect to have the center complete and operational by the end of the year. When it is completed, it will be operated for Frisco by Legend Healthcare.

Applied Biosystems Opens 5,400-sq-ft Asia-Pacific Support Center in Shanghai

Applied Biosystems officially opened its Asia Pacific Application Support Center in Shanghai, China. The company says it expects the Center to drive China’s life sciences industry by providing a facility where researchers will have access to one of the region’s most comprehensive displays of life science tools under one roof.

“We are extremely pleased to be opening our Asia Pacific Application Support Center in China, one of the world’s most vibrant and growing markets,” says Tony L. White, chairman, president, and CEO of Applera, Applied Biosystems’ parent company.

The company says that its Application Support Center is an important strategic initiative that is expected to help increase the adoption of the company’s technologies throughout the region. It will serve customers in China — one of the company’s fastest-growing markets—in addition to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South East Asia. “Not only should we be able to better serve our customers in Asia Pacific and China, we should also be able to enhance collaboration on government initiatives such as our association with China’s Ministry of Public Security for the health and welfare of the Chinese community.”

Applied Biosystems currently has a number of collaborations in China, including with the China Inspection and Quarantine Bureau for food safety, the Ministry of Public Security to establish China’s first forensic database, the Beijing Proteomic Research Center, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control, Ministry of Health to aid in SARS detection.

The 5,400-sq-ft facility houses five demonstration laboratories. The key applications span the life science continuum, including pharmaceutical and biotech research, healthcare and clinical research, forensic analysis, and environmental and food safety testing. The Center will provide the company’s complete portfolio of instrument systems in a functional setting. Its main functions include sample analysis, instrument and workflow demonstrations for specific applications in life sciences and applied markets, comprehensive training programs, region-specific applications development, and on-site and remote customer support. Applied Biosystems also intends to make the new facility available for scientific collaborations with research leaders in a variety of life sciences disciplines.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Plans to Expand its R&D Capabilities in India

Bristol-Myers Squibb has plans to expand its R&D capabilities in India in collaboration with Biocon Ltd. and Accenture Ltd. According to a company statement, BMS will work with Biocon, India's largest biotechnology firm, to set up a research facility in Bangalore to help its discovery and early drug development. The Bangalore facility will have the potential to accommodate more than 400 scientists.

BMS also entered a multi-year agreement with Accenture, a consulting firm, to include support for clinical data and document management, pharmacovigilance, and scientific writing functions in India. Accenture will also provide maintenance and support for R&D information systems, according to BMS.

Baxter Completes Sale of Transfusion Therapies Business

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) announced today that it has completed the sale of its Transfusion Therapies business to Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Maverick Capital Ltd. for $540 million.

TPG and Maverick Capital, Ltd. have established the new independent company as Fenwal Inc. Fenwal becomes one of the world's largest suppliers of products and services to the transfusion medicine industry, with a product portfolio of manual and automated blood-collection products and storage equipment, approximately 3,500 employees, and five manufacturing facilities located in Haina, Dominican Republic; La Chatre, France; Maricao and San German, Puerto Rico; and Bir Drassen, Tunisia. Baxter will continue to provide certain manufacturing, distribution and support services to Fenwal for varying periods of time following the close, under transition agreements signed by the companies.

MG America is Named the Exclusive North American Representative of Schmucker Pouch Filling and Cartoning Machinery

MG America, the U.S. subsidiary of MG2 of Bologna, Italy, and a leading supplier of processing and packaging machinery, service and support to the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, nutritional, food and general packaging industries, announces it will be the exclusive representative of Schmucker Pouch Filling and Cartoning Machinery in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Schmucker has been manufacturing vertical, high speed pouch filling and horizontal cartoning machinery for the global packaging market for over 25 years.

In addition to capsule-filling machines and pouch filling machinery, MG America serves the end-of-line packaging needs of the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. MG America operates from a 20,000 square foot facility in Fairfield, NJ. The in-house team of 15 employees provides the market with fully-staffed sales, service and parts departments.

Eisai Establishes UK Manufacturing Subsidiary

Eisai Co., Ltd. has established its first European pharmaceutical manufacturing subsidiary, Eisai Manufacturing Ltd., (EML) in Hatfield, UK. EML is owned by the company's European regional headquarters, Eisai Europe Ltd. and will function as the core base of quality assurance and supply chain management for its European operations. EML will be recruiting manufacturing/QA experts for the targeted operation launch in 2008.

Eisai has been expanding its European operations with the planned construction of the European Knowledge Center located to the north of London Hatfield, which will consolidate Eisai's key value chain components in the region, including headquarters, discovery and clinical research, production, and marketing. The new manufacturing subsidiary in Hatfield is part of Eisai's effort to further progress its knowledge creation in manufacturing, according to the company.

Charles River Opens Preclinical Facility

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has opened its new, state-of-the-art, 450,000 sq.-ft. preclinical facility in Shrewsbury, MA. Custom-designed for optimal workflow, this new facility will enable flexible and more rapid study starts for both discovery and development programs, according to the company.

The company began operations in the new facility in January of this year. Construction of a similar lab to support its West Coast customers is underway. The first is expected to open in this summer.

Research Center Positioned to Work with Hershey Med

Eventually, the Hershey Center for Applied Research could be a complex of 12 or more buildings. For now, though, one building is under construction along Bullfrog Valley Road in Derry Twp.

Wexford has several projects under way nationwide, including a biotechnology park in Baltimore with the University of Maryland; a science center in Philadelphia in tandem with the University of Pennsylvania; a research park within Old Dominion University in Virginia; a technology park at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago; and a life sciences center with the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

The center's three-story, 80,448-square-foot building is on land owned by Hershey Trust Co. that the trust board has leased to Wexford. Korczakowski said the trust land totals 165 acres, but only a small part is being leased to the center.

The center's sole tenant to date is Penn State, including the medical center and the College of Medicine, which is leasing 32,224 square feet. The college will move its pharmacology and technology transfer departments into the center. The rest of the space is being marketed for Wexford by CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate brokerage firm.

The target date to finish the building is April 27. Penn State should be moved in by late May or early June, said Megan Walde Manlove, a college spokeswoman.

The pharmacology department is doing research in different stages of drug discovery, drug development and how drugs are delivered and by developing a compound that targets tumors so that the cancer tumor might self-destruct.

Future tenants would benefit from working in the same building as the pharmacology department and having access to other resources at the college.

The college benefits by attracting graduate students who would be able to apply their research.

Minnesota Expands Biotechnology

The Mayo Clinic genomics partnership with the University of Minnesota.
The planned $30 million Biobusiness Center.
The coming University of Minnesota-Rochester campus.
The proposed development of an "urban village" concept in downtown Rochester.

Add in the presence of IBM and Benchmark Electronics, and the future looks bright.

Every million dollars invested in research is estimated to result in 32 jobs, said Timothy Mulcahy, Vice President for Research, University of Minnesota.

Mayo Clinic has been adding about 700 jobs a year for the past several years, and additional research will grow that number.

The University of Minnesota sees Rochester as the state's major bioscience center, Mulcahy said.

The groundbreaking this fall for the Biobusiness Center, which will house biotechnology firms along with Mayo Medical Ventures, was more evidence of action.

Benchmark Electronics, which recently bought Rochester's Pemstar Inc., also adds to the biobusiness push. The Texas-based firm already does business with almost every medical device maker.

And then there's the U of M-Rochester campus. Its temporary home is under construction on the third and fourth floors of the Galleria Mall in downtown Rochester.

UMR is estimated to create up to 1,330 spin-off jobs by 2015, according to a report created for RAEDI by Impact Economics LP of Pittsburgh. The report also estimates the state will see a return on its money of 4 to 8.1 times its investment a year by 2015.

The additional students will benefit more than just Mayo Clinic or the U of M

MorphoSys Inaugurates New Facilities in Oxford, UK

MorphoSys AG, a leading German-based biotechnology company, has opened new U.K. headquarters in Kidlington, North Oxford. The 2,200 square meter facility acts as the new U.K. headquarters for the MorphoSys Group of companies situated in the U.K.

MorphoSys's business unit, AbD Serotec delivers high-quality antibodies to the research market. Successful acquisitions of U.K. and U.S.-based antibody suppliers with strong catalog and industrial antibody production business have significantly strengthened and broadened MorphoSys's position in the research antibody market. In April 2006, on the back of its Q1 results, the Company announced plans to consolidate its U.K. operations at a single site in Oxford. The operation is now complete and the Company looks forward to growing its research antibody business from this new base in the U.K.

About MorphoSys: MorphoSys develops and applies innovative technologies for the production of synthetic antibodies, which accelerate drug discovery and target characterization. Founded in 1992, the Company's proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation.

Aptuit Plans Expansion in NJ

Aptuit announced plans to invest $100 million to expand capacity and capabilities globally, and as part of this initiative, the company is planning a new development and packaging center in NJ. Aptuit's current operations in Allendale and Mount Laurel, NJ are operating at near capacity levels, the company stated.

Aptuit plans to establish a new facility in southern NJ that will offer more space and capacity, as well as set a new standard in regulatory compliance. Operations in Allendale and Mount Laurel will be transitioned to the new facility once completed and validated, which will take place during the next two years. The new facility will expand capacity and create additional development services, including clinical manufacturing, over-encapsulation and analytical testing, combining the company's packaging operations in an integrated facility.

Bethlehem Twp. Planners Back St. Luke's Campus

A plan for the first building phase of St. Luke's Hospital's new 180-acre campus at Route 33 and Interstate 78 was recommended for approval by the Bethlehem Township Planning Commission.

The recommendation puts the hospital in position to break ground at its RiversideCampus by the summer and open a new regional cancer center and outpatient clinic by 2009.

The centerpiece of the $125-million, 40-acre first phase is the 40,000 sq. ft. cancer center. The hospital also plans to build a diagnostic pavilion with one of two GE Healthcare Interantional Imaging facilities. St. Luke's has for a while been a GE showcase for some of the latest diagnostic technology, including CT scanners and magnetic imagers. Radiologists from around the world come to see and train on St. Luke's equipment.

An ambulatory surgery center, an urgent care center and two medical office buildings are also part of the phase one plan. A hospital will be built during the second phase of construction, though St. Luke's has not determined when it will submit plans.

St. Luke's plans to develop the new campus — which eventually will become the largest health care facility in the Lehigh Valley -- in four zones. After a hospital, St. Luke's is planning to build an education center. A fourth quadrant is planned to have food service, lodging and other services.

The first phase of St. Luke's Hospital's Riverside Campus, will include:

a regional cancer center
an outpatient clinic
a diagnostic pavilion with state-of-the-art GE Healthcare imaging equipment
an ambulatory surgery center
an urgent care center
two medical office buildings on 40 acres.

The estimated cost of development is $125 million with three more phases to follow.

Research Jobs Grow on MDI

Officials at The Jackson Laboratory expect to add several hundred new jobs to the lab’s work force in the next few years and that they will be getting some financial help with training some of the new employees.

Jackson Lab specializes in the study of mouse genetics, which closely resembles that of humans, to learn what causes human disease and other medical disorders. It also has a mouse breeding division that provides genetically distinct mice for research institutions worldwide.

The lab now has about 36 research groups, each with a lead scientific investigator and varying amount of support staff, ranging from other scientists to animal technicians. There are certain areas in which the lab would like to increase its research, such as neurobiology and developmental and reproductive biology, and by 2010 it hopes to add 10 more such groups to its scientific roster.

To help with the lab’s growth, it is getting a grant of up to $85,600 from Maine Quality Center that will go toward employee training and educational services provided by Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor. The training will be provided at the lab’s Route 3 facility in Bar Harbor to teach up to 48 new technicians how to care for the lab’s research animals, according to a lab press release.

Donation from Lokey Will Go toward Stem Cell Institute Building at Stanford

Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of Business Wire and a passionate supporter of education and science, will give a minimum of $33 million to help build a home for Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.

Lokey, who has given away much of his fortune to educational institutions, said he turned his attention to stem cells in 2000, after the Bush administration limited federal funding for stem cell research, discouraging the study of these potentially powerful cells.

Lokey's contribution to the School of Medicine — its largest single gift to date from an individual — will help launch construction of new stem cell laboratories on campus where scientists will probe the power of these elusive cells in treating conditions as diverse as cancer, stroke and diabetes. Lokey hopes the gift will be more than $33 million; the funds are being held in an account that is expected to grow in value before construction begins.

The anticipated schedule for the building calls for groundbreaking in 2009, with completion in 2011. The building, to be located between Campus Drive and the Center for Clinical Sciences Research, will be the first in a series of structures that will house the

Lokey previously has made significant gifts to multiple projects at Stanford, including $20 million to help build the new Lorry I. Lokey Laboratory Building, which opened in 2004 and houses research labs for the departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences.

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