While some U.S. bio firms begin to look overseas, Swiss giant Novartis has made the leap back across the Atlantic, launching the $250-million Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass.

The Pharmaceutical State

New Jersey remains a vital center of biotech and pharmaceutical R&D for several reasons. These include a well-established base of major companies already in the region, proximity to New York City, a strong transportation, school and work force infrastructure, and technical colleges and universities.
        "There has been a good commitment on the part of education and the state itself in supporting a technology-based environment for these kinds of companies," says Christopher Kinum, senior managing director and branch manager of Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey in East Rutherford. The existing employee base is a strong inducement for biotech and pharmaceutical companies seeking a new location, he points out. "The Johnson & Johnsons and the Mercks and the Bristol Myers and Scherring Ploughs and the others have created the pharmaceutical base, and now you're getting the second-tier, slightly smaller players, plus some generic houses, who want to be known as working in the pharmaceutical belt."
        The next wave is the "biopharms," which Kinum says are a natural evolution of the pharmaceutical industry and were initially attracted to educational institutions around the country for their research capabilities. "Most of the biotechs in New Jersey have either come to work with the existing pharmaceutical companies or have been incubated by our institutions, such as Stevens Institute of Technology [Hoboken, N.J.], New Jersey Institute of Technology [Newark, N.J.] and several others, and have stayed behind."
        The future, says Kinum, has to do with research parks, most of which are affiliated with universities and research hospitals. "These parks will attract biopharm, pharma, nanotechnology -- all of that is centered around institutional research or pure research," Kinum explains. "The trick is: Who will be able to take pure research and blend it together with the commercialization of research? Many research institutions have no interest in commercialization. In New Jersey right now, Harvard's Dr. Michael Porter is conducting a study on clustering, on how New Jersey can take advantage of its institutions and its phenomenal biotech and pharmaceutical base to grow as a center for incubation and the growth of biopharm and pharmaceutical companies."
        Purdue University is one of several in the U.S. that are engaged in blending research and commercialization; the university's Discovery Park complex is currently under development to make that goal a reality.
        In Cambridge, Mass., a major pharmaceutical research project was announced in May. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced plans to establish the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research Inc. (NIBRI) on property owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology known as Technology Square. The $250-million investment will create 255,000 square feet (23,200 sq. m.) of laboratory and office space and room for 400 scientists and technology experts.
        "Our establishment of NIBRI in Cambridge, in the midst of one of the world's most impressive pools of scientific talent and academic institutions, will help attract the best researchers and increase research productivity by capitalizing on the vast increase in therapeutic targets stemming from the sequencing of the human genome," noted Daniel Vasella, M.D., chairman and CEO of Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG, at the time of the announcement. The new facility will be the base for all Novartis research activities currently performed in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.