Sometimes a surplus facility deal can involve two big pharmas with happily complementary goals. Such was the case in fall 2005 when U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) announced it would invest $100 million in a 90-acre (36-hectare) manufacturing site in Marietta, Pa., previously owned by Wyeth, where GSK will employ 270 people. This Marietta is in the Lancaster metro area, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Wyeth had discontinued operations as of Dec. 31, 2004.
   "We expect to develop new flu vaccine technology at our Marietta facility that we hope will enhance our future ability to rapidly produce flu vaccines for the nation in response to a pandemic," said J.P. Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline. "This new technology will complement our current egg-based flu vaccine manufacturing. We are working hand-in-hand with government officials to help meet public health needs by expanding our capabilities as a reliable supplier of vaccines for the U.S."
   GSK on August 31, 2005, received FDA approval to make its current flu vaccine, Fluarix, available in the U.S. in time for the 2005-2006 flu season. That supply is being manufactured at the company's Dresden, Germany, complex, which is now seeing the doubling of capacity to meet worldwide demand.
   Pennsylvania is by no means a stranger to vaccine development or big pharma in general. Sanofi Pasteur is investing $150 million in a flu vaccine plant in Swiftwater – a follow-up investment to the $127 million that predecessor Aventis Pasteur invested in Pennsylvania in 2004 in facilities in Swiftwater and Scranton. The company's chairman and CEO, David J. Williams, hails from northeast Pennsylvania, and the firm in 2004 established its headquarters in Bridgewater, N.J. In August 2005, according to Financial Times, the company's Swiftwater complex received one of the largest orders of eggs ever placed by the U.S. government.
   GSK is not stopping in Marietta with its vaccine and facility growth. In August 2005 it announced a $92-million, 200-job expansion of its 22-year-old manufacturing complex in Zebulon, N.C., which will see incentive help via a $1.9-million Job Development Investment Grant and $500,000 from the One North Carolina Fund. On Sept. 8, 2005, it announced the purchase of Vancouver, B.C.-based vaccine maker ID Biomedical for $1.4 billion. And in April 2006, GSK said it would expand its facility in Aiken, S.C. by 30,000 sq. ft. (2,787 sq. m.) and 150 new employees over the next two years in order to accommodate production of weight control and smoking control products, as well as relocated production of a safety-coated aspirin product from Puerto Rico.

Pfizer's $190-million new research building in Chesterfield, Mo., is part of an incremental campus investment plan. Left to right at the Pfizer groundbreaking in Chesterfield, Mo., are Paul Begin, Vice President Pfizer Global Operations/Global Facilities Management; Sheryl Spencer, Pfizer St. Louis Researcher; Charlie Dooley, Saint Louis County Executive; John Nations, Mayor of Chesterfield; John LaMattina, President Pfizer Global Research and Development; Daniel P. Getman, Vice President Pfizer Global Research and Development, Site Director St. Louis Labs; Greg Steinhoff, Director Missouri Department of Economic Development; Todd Akin, U.S. Congressman (2nd District); Martin MacKay, Senior Vice President Pfizer Global Research and Development; and Rich Leimgruber, Pfizer St. Louis Researcher.