Advertisement
Calif.'s loss a win for RTP's Biogen
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - Biogen Idec Inc. will transfer the manufacturing of a cancer treatment drug from San Diego to Research Triangle Park - evidence that the local site will be given a growing load of the merged company's product output.
Amy Brockelman, a spokeswoman for Biogen Idec, said no time frame has been set for the RTP site to begin manufacturing Zevalin, which is touted as the first radioimmunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Zevalin generated $13.7 million in revenue in 2002, and analysts expect the drug will pull in about $20 million when the books are closed on 2003.
Nicholas Barthelemy, vice president of manufacturing and general manager of RTP operations, will become the key man in blending Idec's product line with Biogen's current line of Avonex and Amiveve products being manufactured in RTP.
With Biogen's June merger with Idec receiving the blessing of shareholders on Nov. 12, the company's RTP plant likely will land manufacturing work that otherwise would have been done at Idec plants, one analyst says. To prepare the site, Biogen Idec this year has pumped into its RTP facility a portion of an $80 million investment.
"As of September 30, 2003, the Company had committed approximately $81 million for construction costs related to... additional projects, of which $80 million had been spent," Biogen said in its latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Biogen spent the money on "ongoing construction of several projects to create additional manufacturing capacity," the company said in its filing. Brockelman says the $80 million was invested in the company's RTP and Cambridge, Mass., facilities. She would not provide a breakdown.
Biogen Idec's RTP plant currently manufactures Amevive, a treatment for chronic plaque psoriasis. The company also plans to use RTP to manufacture Antegren, a treatment of multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease that is in Phase III trials - the final approval stage. Trial batches are being run at RTP, and commercial production could begin in mid-2006, says Brockelman. The company's RTP employee strength has grown from 128 in 2000 to 430 now.
Avonex, a treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, is manufactured at RTP as well as at a Cambridge, facility. Avonex was Biogen's first drug on the market.
Another Biogen Idec drug, Rituxan, a treatment for cancer of the lymphatic system, is manufactured by partner Genentech.
Biogen Idec's fresh investments come even as some analysts say the industry does not need additional manufacturing capacity. "One of the reasons for having capacity was it could help companies make deals" with drug developers that didn't own manufacturing sites, says A.G. Edwards analyst Craig West.
See the original article here.
