Genzyme outlines manufacturing expansion strategy
<%=company%> recently outlined a comprehensive plan for substantially expanding manufacturing capacity to support the strong growth of existing products and the launch of products within its robust development pipeline. From its earliest days, Genzyme has maintained a strong commitment to manufacture its own products. The company currently operates 14 manufacturing facilities throughout the world, and today it reported plans for several major new facilities in the United States and Ireland that are expected to come on line over the next five years.
First, Genzyme announced that it intends to construct a 300,000-square- foot recombinant protein manufacturing facility in Framingham, Massachusetts. The facility will support the growing number of enzyme replacement therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and other recombinant cell-culture products emerging from Genzyme's pipeline. It will provide a strong complement to the company's Allston Landing facility -- where Cerezyme (imiglucerase for injection) is produced -- and other Genzyme facilities that have made the company a world leader in protein manufacturing.
Genzyme intends to build the new facility on a site adjacent to its existing Framingham campus, which includes manufacturing facilities, research and development laboratories and administrative offices. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, with operations anticipated in 2004.
Genzyme also announced today that it will establish a manufacturing facility in the Republic of Ireland initially for the production of Renagel (sevelamer hydrochloride), a phosphate binder for dialysis patients that is the company's fastest growing product. Specifically, Genzyme has purchased an existing 120,000 square foot facility located on a 32-acre site in the city of Waterford that will be converted for use in manufacturing the tablet formulation of Renagel. Genzyme expects that the facility will be fully operational and approved by regulatory authorities by the middle of 2003.
As a follow on to the establishment of the Renagel tableting facility, Genzyme is developing a plan for a multi-product manufacturing center in Waterford. This center will include a biologics fill and finishing plant that would support future protein and antibody products manufactured at other Genzyme facilities, as well as a bulk pharmaceutical manufacturing facility for polymers and small molecules.
To further establish the infrastructure to meet the accelerating demand for Renagel, Genzyme is currently engaged in a major expansion of its Haverhill manufacturing operations in the United Kingdom. The expansion will include the introduction of tablet-making facilities and the construction of two new large-scale plants that will result in a tenfold increase in production capacity for sevelamer hydrochloride, the primary active ingredient in Renagel.
"We are actively expanding our manufacturing capabilities in a comprehensive way in order to support our current and anticipated growth," said Henri Termeer, chairman and chief executive officer of Genzyme Corp. "The investments we have made in our pipeline over the last several years are creating numerous opportunities to commercialize products in the near future. The new facilities we are constructing will substantially strengthen the world-class bio-manufacturing infrastructure and expertise we have developed over two decades."
Genzyme Corp. is a biotechnology and health care products company that develops innovative products and services for major unmet medical needs.
Source: Genzyme Corp.
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