Western Europe, particularly in the northern half, follows North America in biotechnology investment, and the continent has seen recent announcements or completions of several major projects.

Bayer CropScience recently opened a new plant biotechnology innovation facilty in Ghent, Belgium.

      Biogen announced in 2002 that it would build a major manufacturing facility in Hillerod, Denmark. Those plans were put on pause in November 2003 when Biogen merged with another leading biotech company, IDEC Pharmaceuticals. Upon re-evaluation, the new company, Biogen Idec, announced last July that it would proceed with the large-scale $340-million project. Current plans call for creation of 200 jobs with commercial production to begin in 2008. The facility will be Biogen Idec's first factory outside the U.S. and will primarily produce drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and psoriasis.
      Biogen Idec also opened its new international headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, about a half hour's train ride south of Zurich. The move consolidates some of its European operations and the new headquarters will employ about 50. Biogen Idec spokesman Jose Juves says the company picked Switzerland for its central location in Europe, its position as a major biotech hub, availability of directed flights to European and U.S. cities and its well-educated, multilingual workforce.
      "We needed to find a country that was not a large commercial market so that employees would have an external, international focus," Juves says.
      The Roche Group, the world's largest manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals and long established in Swiss biotech cluster of Basel, is enlarging the biotech manufacturing capability of its Swiss Diagnostics arm. The company will build new biotech centers at its Basel campus and in Penzberg, Germany. The projects involve investments of 400 million Swiss francs ($320 million) each. The facilities will initially be used to manufacture the active ingredients of the anti-cancer medicines Avastin and Herceptin, both of which belong to a group of therapeutic agents known as monoclonal antibodies. Roche will create about 150 jobs at each site.
      At Roche's Basel headquarters, an existing chemical production building is being torn down to make room for a new 8-story building. Penzberg, already Europe's largest biotech manufacturing site, will see construction of a new five-story building.
      There are also new developments on the agriculture side of the industry. Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, has opened a new plant biotechnology innovation center in Ghent, Belgium. The $24-million facility will house 200 scientists and employees involved in complex plant biotechnology projects.