Immunex Corporation and American Home Products Corporation have announced that the companies intend to transfer ownership of the manufacturing facility in Rhode Island on or about 1 January 2002. The facility is being redesigned to produce Enbrel(R) (etanercept).
It is expected to cost more than USD 450 million when completed. This includes the acquisition of the 75-acre site and current manufacturing facility. Located in West Greenwich, RI, the current 250,000 square foot facility is being redesigned for the manufacture of Enbrel. This work involves the design and installation of hundreds of pieces of equipment, including eight commercial-scale bioreactors, more than 25 miles of stainless-steel pipe and approximately 240 miles of electrical wire. Pending approval of permits, Immunex expects to break ground this fall on a second cell culture manufacturing facility at this same location, the BioNext Project(TM), a 500,000 square foot facility. When it is completed, the two plants are expected to comprise the largest cell culture manufacturing centre in the world.
