by JOHN McCURRY john.mccurry bounce@conway.com

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ropelled by the success of its two blockbuster drugs targeting Alzheimer's and acid reflux, Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., is moving forward with multiple expansions in the U.S. Rapid growth has the company moving into its own build-to-suit headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., breaking ground on a new R&D formulation facility North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and opening a major research facility in Andover, Mass.
   Eisai is a specialty pharmaceutical company with several products currently at various stages in the development pipeline to treat various cancers. Throughout its history, Eisai has focused on developing products in the neurology, gastro-intestinal, and oncology and critical care areas.
   Eisai broke ground on the US$90-million, 65,000-sq.-ft. (6.000-sq.-m.) RTP oncology research facility in November. The company recently entered the cancer drug development market through the acquisition of four oncology-related products from Ligand Pharmaceuticals.
   Cathy Pollini, Eisai Inc.'s director of planning and communications, says the 133-acre (54-hectare) RTP campus was chosen with expansion in mind a decade ago. That strategy is paying off. The latest expansion, the site's third, will eventually create 84 jobs after it is completed in 2009. The new facility will complement Eisai's 190,000-sq.-ft. (17,650-sq.-m.) manufacturing operation.
   "Constructing the facility at the current RTP location allows for seamless integration of production and operations, and we have already established high compliance standards there [that are] instrumental to us for regulatory approvals," Pollini says.
   The $65-million Eisai Research Institute of Boston, opened in January, will consolidate the company's basic discovery research operations and provide for future growth. The facility consolidates a previous operation in Andover and another in Wilmington, Mass. Pollini says proximity to the Boston area with its 75 universities, 125 hospitals and 485 life science-related companies makes Andover an attractive site.
   Pollini says Eisai operates globally under five-year plans and reached the goals of its "Millennium Plan" in 2005, one year earlier than scheduled. She says Eisai thus began its "Dramatic Leap Plan" a year earlier than scheduled and will operate under it until 2011. Under this plan, Eisai aims to sustain double-digit growth in the U.S. and reach global sales of $4 billion by 2011, double current sales. She says the sales force will nearly double to 1,500 during that period.
   Eisai is moving 200 employees from its previous Teaneck, N.J., headquarters to the new 209,000-sq.-ft. (19,400-sq.-m.) building in Woodcliff Lake.

Eisai held an opening ceremony in January for its new Eisai Research Institute of Boston in Andover, Mass.

   "The two main factors were our employees in the area and our commitment to Bergen County, where we've had our home since Eisai has been in operation," Pollini says.
   Eisai's RTP project is one of 14 major pharmaceutical industry investments announced in North Carolina during 2006, leading the way among U.S. states, according to figures compiled by the Conway Data New Plant Database, which measures major new corporate projects and expansions involving new construction.    Pets are people, too, the saying goes. That's clearly evident by growing demand for new treatments for animal afflictions as pet owners strive to keep their pets healthy.
   Idexx Laboratories, a developer of diagnostic tests and pharmaceuticals used by veterinarians, is in rapid expansion mode to accommodate increasing demand for its products. Much of that expansion is happening at the company's headquarters complex in Westbrook, Maine, just west of Portland. Brian Rand, senior project manager of the Westbrook expansion, says it will occur in two phases to be completed by 2011. He says the projects represent an investment of more than $100 million and will boost employment from the current 1,350 to about 2,200.
   "We looked at a lot of options, including building elsewhere and leasing elsewhere," Rand says. "One of the things Idexx believes makes us successful is keeping our core groups together because our marketing is tightly integrated with our R&D and operations. We've been able to keep everyone on the campus in an economical way. We've developed a core competency among our employees in Westbrook and that's what drove us to stay here."
   The first phase of the project involves demolishing an addition to Idexx's existing complex and subsequent construction of a two-story building with manufacturing on the first floor and administrative offices on the second. The second phase involves renovation of existing facilities.
   Rand says every sector of Idexx's business in growing. Most of the company's more than 40 sites around the globe — including 18 in the U.S. — are stand-alone laboratories. Idexx has a distribution center in Memphis and does most of its shipping through FedEx, he says.
   Also on the animal side, Embrex has invested $15 million to build the Embrex Poultry Health manufacturing facility in Scotland County, N.C. The plant is the first to be built by a homegrown N.C.-based biotechnology company. It will house vaccine purification, sterile filling, shipping and receiving, as well as quality-control laboratories. Embrex, which became part of Pfizer Animal Health in January, is known for its Inovocox coccidiosis vaccine for poultry. Cocccidiosis is a parasitic disease of the chicken's digestive system.

Millipore, a service provider to pharmaceutical manufacturers, has opened a $50-million R&D center in Bedford, Mass.

   Increased demand for medicines also boosts demand for packaging. Alcan is spending $27.5 million to expand its Pharma Center in Shelbyville, Ky. That facility is the only North American facility in the packaging industry dedicated to pharmaceutical flexible packaging materials. Alcan says the expansion, to be completed by February 2008, will add 40 to 50 jobs and will allow the company to meet increased demand. The facility is part of Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging, which operates 37 facilities in 14 countries.
   Quintiles Transnational Corp., headquartered in Durham, N.C., is the world's largest clinical research organization in terms of global revenue and is expanding globally. Quintiles, which helps drug makers develop and commercialize new medicines, is creating 1,000 jobs and investing $10.1 million over the next six years in an expansion in Durham. Average salary for the new positions will be more than $65,000. Quintiles will lease a $50 million building to be built by a private developer. Quintiles studied potential sites in Overland Park, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., before deciding to expand at its home base.
   Quintiles also plans to open a central lab in Mumbai, India, expanding its global network of labs that support global and regional clinical trials.
   Millipore Corp., which provides products and serves that improve productivity in the laboratory and in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, opened a $50 million R&D center in Bedford, Mass. The 110,000-sq.-ft. (10,200-sq.-m.) facility will allow the company to continue to attract top scientific talent, Millipore officials say.

Recent Pharmaceutical Expansions P harmaceutical companies have a preponderance of projects at various stages in the construction pipeline across the globe. Here is a glance at recent announcements. Shire Pharmaceuticals plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Owings Mills, Md. AstraZeneca in January announced plans for a $100-million research facility to boost work in the infectious disease area and for cancer research at its R&D center near Boston. Construction of the 132,000-sq.-ft. (12,260-sq.m.) facility, which will have capacity for 100 researchers, is scheduled for completion by mid 2009. Merck is also investing $100 million to expand its Durham, N.C., vaccine manufacturing facility, creating 50 to 60 jobs. In 2004, the company began construction of a $300-million, 235,000-sq.-ft. (21,800-sq.-m.) facility in Durham. That construction will be completed in 2007 and the facility, which will employ up to 200, is on schedule to start production before the end of 2008. The expansion will include a sterile processing facility, quality testing labs and a high-speed packaging line. Construction will begin in 2007 and be completed by 2010. Novartis will begin construction this year on the first cell culture-derived influenza manufacturing plant in the U.S. in Holly Springs, N.C. Novartis plans a total investment of $600 million, including a $220-million award from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals signed a 15-year lease with BioMed Realty Trust for a new corporate headquarters and R&D complex to be built next to its current facility in Greenburgh, N.Y. The new complex will consolidate 440 employees currently working at six facilities in the Tarrytown area. Regeneron is a developer of treatments for cancer, eye diseases and inflammatory diseases. Shire Pharmaceuticals plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Owings Mills, Md. Shire Pharmaceuticals has invested $6 million to add 19,000 sq. ft. (1,765 sq. m.) of space at its Owings Mills, Md., manufacturing facility. The company has expanded several times since moving to the site in 2002. Shire focuses on products to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, human genetic therapies and gastrointestinal and renal diseases. Servier, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical company in France, is investing 100 million to 115 million euros ($130 million to $149 million) to develop a new manufacturing site in Waterford, southern Ireland. Set to begin production in 2010, the project will create about 150 jobs. Servier specializes in development and manufacture of medicines to treat cancer, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes and central nervous system disorders.