Biogen Idec banks on California plant to turn out multiple-sclerosis drug
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With 47 miles of pipes, 300 miles of wire and an assortment of gleaming, stainless-steel tanks, Biogen Idec’s sprawling new Oceanside drug-manufacturing plant is a thing of biotech beauty. But with the approval last week of the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company’s potential blockbuster multiple-sclerosis drug, there won’t be much time to primp. The $380 million, five-building Oceanside campus — dubbed the New Idec Manufacturing Operation, or NIMO — is pushing ahead of schedule to meet the anticipated demand for the new drug, called Tysabri. Such manufacturing plants differ from more traditional facilities that churn out pills made from chemicals. In contrast, protein drugs, or “biologics,” are genetically engineered versions of natural biological substances. Dave Broad, general manager of NIMO, is unabashedly proud of his biomanufacturing baby, and reels off statistics with ease: The site has about 500,000 square feet of construction, half of it dedicated to manufacturing. Six thousand tons of steel and 25,000 cubic yards of cement went into the project. About 6,000 contractors worked a total of 2.8 million hours Source : accessmylibrary.com |