ille, France, can say its biotechnology history dates back to 1857, when Louis Pasteur, then dean of the science faculty at Lille University, presented his theory on lactic fermentation to the Science Society of Lille. In fact the Lille branch of the organization that bears the name of the renowned chemist and biologist, the Pasteur Institute, observed "150 Years of Microbiology" with a three-day conference in December.
   Lille, just an hour from Paris via the high-speed TGV train, has also been the every-other-year host of the annual EuroBio conference and exhibition, alternating with Paris. That event has brought some of the continent's prominent biotech companies and scientists to the city in northern France, drawing international attention.
   Today, the Lille region continues the tradition Pasteur launched with a major biotech presence, including development of a new vaccine manufacturing facility by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in Saint Amand, about 25 miles (40 km.) southeast of Lille. The plant will create 300 jobs by 2009 and 600 by 2011 as it supplies more than 300 million doses of vaccine annually.
   GSK is investing €500 million (US$733 million) in the project, which is an expansion of an existing site operated by Sterilyo, a company GSK acquired in 2002.
   The global vaccine market is in the midst of a rapid growth period due to innovation and a trend toward prevention rather than treatment. GSK had 22 percent of the global vaccine market in 2006, just behind Sanofi Pasteur, which had 23 percent, according to GSK's estimates. These vaccines will include Cevarix for prevention of cervical cancer, improved flu vaccines, new meningitis vaccines and a new pediatric vaccine for streptococcus pneumonia.
   Anne-Marie Camille is the former site director at the site and has played a prominent role in the site selection process and development of the new vaccine facility. She says the Lille region was chosen for a variety of reasons. They include its proximity to GSK Biologicals' primary Belgian sites in Rixensart and Wavre and the 42 acres (17 hectares) available for expansion.
   "It's a region with a lot of universities and has a diverse and young population," Camille says.
   Saint Amand also had in place expertise in critical technologies such as freeze-drying, aseptic filling and adherence to GMP (good manufacturing practices).
   Camille says Saint Amand competed with other GSK sites in Ireland, the U.K., Poland, Hungary and Asia for the new facility.
   The Lille-Northern France biocluster encompasses approximately 750-healthcare-related companies employing 21,000 people. This includes about 30 biotech firms employing 3,700.
   It also includes the largest university-hospital campus in Europe with seven hospitals, 50 academic laboratories and 90 medical device and biotech companies at the Eurasante Bio-business Park. This park will soon be home to the France headquarters of Bayer Schering Pharma, which will employ 800.    Biotechnology is setting a fast growth pace in Scotland, with about 30,000 now employed in the sector, which is primarily concentrated in the Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee areas.
    One of the growing specialties in the country is contract research, as more biopharmaceutical companies outsource research to speed drug development and reduce costs. Scotland now has more than 40 companies in this field. PPD, a Wilmington, N.C.-based global contract research organization, has had a presence in Scotland for several years through an acquisition, and is now expanding its facilities in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, on the outskirts of Glasgow.
   "Scotland offers us a number of good reasons to expand," says Graham Downing, PPD's vice president, global biotechnology statistics. "It has a highly educated work force, and we have been able to link into that. Scotland offers good tax incentives to expand and has been very encouraging to firms like us."
   PPD currently employs 350. The expansion, set to be completed in the summer of 2008, will add 390 jobs by 2010. A 34,000-sq.-ft. (3,200-sq.-m.) building is being built next to the company's existing offices.
   Clintec International, a global clinical research organization, based in Windsor, U.K., plans to locate its new global corporate headquarters in Glasgow, creating up to 240 jobs over the next three years. The facility will be the company's base for its global human resources, finance, IT, marketing, legal, corporate development and sales. It will also house a team of clinical professionals who will manage implementation of clinical trials.
   Scotland's biotech effort figures to get a large boost as the planned Edinburgh BioQuarter develops in the coming years. California-based Alexander Real Estate Equities, the largest life sciences real estate developer in the world, is developing the project, its first foray outside the U.S. The planned $1.2-billion project will include 1.4 million sq. ft. (130,000 sq. m.) of biomedical R&D space, and will be developed in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh City Council and National Health Service Scotland.
   Another burgeoning U.K. biotech cluster is in Nottingham, England, home of the BioCity campus. R5 Pharmaceuticals, a fast-growing start-up company involved in contract pharmaceutical development, is one of more than 40 companies in BioCity. Paul Titley, R5's CEO, says BioCity is an ideal location for developing companies.
   "There is a diverse group of companies at BioCity and we are always meeting potential customers and suppliers in the restaurant or on the stairway," says Titley, an exhibitor at the 2007 EuroBio.    Medicon Valley, a term for a life sciences cluster spanning the Greater Copenhagen area and southern Sweden, continues to develop new companies and attract investment. Nordic venture capital specialist Sunstone Capital, which has invested in 20 life science firms, says that 11 companies are considering an IPO within the next three years. Many of the companies based in the region focus on specialized medicine.
   Growth is also coming from more established firms, such as Pronova BioPharma. The Norway-based company plans to invest up to $308 million to build a new plant in Kalundborg, Denmark. The company has grown rapidly over the past three years and says the need for a second manufacturing facility is driven by increased demand for its active pharmaceutical ingredient, API, which goes into a drug known as Lovaza in the U.S. and Omacor elsewhere. The drug is used to treat elevated levels of triglycerides.