Sanofi's expansion is only the latest sign of vigor in Pennsylvania's pharmaceutical industry — and its prowess in handling international projects.
      Last year, Britain's Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC entered a 10-year lease on 128,000 sq. ft. (11,891 sq. m.) at Chesterbrook Corporate Center in suburban Philadelphia, where the firm is basing its U.S. headquarters. Not far away, home-grown generic drugmaker URL/Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. is spreading its wings with a $22-million expansion that includes the addition of 177,000 sq. ft. (16,443 sq. m.) of space for packaging, finance, sales, and IT operations.
      In Greater Pittsburgh, supportive universities and assertive biotech leadership have helped foster expansion of the medical device industry. Respironics, a maker of products for treating sleep-related disorders, invested $5.5 million in the purchase of a 138,000-sq.-ft. (12,820-sq.-m.) building in Monroeville, where the firm plans to relocate its 350-employee homecare unit. Medrad, Inc., the Indianola-based subsidiary of Germany's Schering AG, is growing its 1,000-person local work force in light of brisk global demand for its medical imaging products.
      U.S. Rep. John Murtha has a knack for bringing home the bacon to his southwestern Pennsylvania district, particularly if it involves defense-industry projects or funding. Among the more significant is the opening of the Electro Optics Center (EOC) in Kittanning, northeast of Pittsburgh. EOC's primary client is the Dept. of Defense's Office of Naval Research. Murtha is ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
      EOC is managed by Penn State University in a new, 45,000-sq.-ft. (4,181-sq.-m.) building at the Northpointe Industrial Park. The center's mission is to use electro-optical technologies to improve manufacturing processes where the needs of the war fighter are concerned. In June 2004, for example, EOC was awarded a three-year, US$13.7-million contract to work on night-vision systems. The center also serves as an R&D hub for the electro-optics industry and as an educational resource and consulting entity.
      Location of the EOC near Pittsburgh already is attracting electro-optical companies to the region that are looking to participate in work commissioned by the Navy. A number of optical companies were in the area already by the time EOC came into being, so the new additions are nurturing a cluster focused on defense work.
      An Electro-Optics Alliance has been formed to help manage the growth needs of this emerging industry and to organize initiatives that further the work and mission of the EOC.