Biotech firms seek space for manufacturing

With sales of its rare-disease drugs growing, British drug maker Shire PLC is looking to build a new $180 million biotechnology manufacturing plant, possibly at the former Fort Devens military base, and plans to add as many as 125 jobs in Cambridge this year.

Shire is a British company that bought Transkaryotic Therapeutics Inc. of Cambridge two years ago. The company currently has about 500 people working in Cambridge, split between the former Kendall Square offices of Transkaryotic Therapeutics and a modest two-story drug factory near the Fresh Pond mall.

With a new drug on the market and its Alewife factory operating at capacity, Shire is now hunting for sites for a new biomanufacturing facility and has had talks with officials in Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Rhode Island. A company spokesman said other states were in consideration for the new site, as well.

Bidding between states for such facilities has become heated in recent years. Last year, competing for a $660 million biotech drug factory to be built by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Massachusetts beat out North Carolina, Rhode Island, and New York by offering more than $60 million in tax credits and construction money.

Although Bristol-Myers has since replaced its chief executive and been the subject of takeover rumors, the company says its plans for the Devens factory are on track. Last month, it finalized the land purchase, and it has now begun work on the site at the converted base 35 miles west of Boston.

Another large drug company is also scouting a Devens site for a biomanufacturing plant, expected to be a large factory on the scale of the Bristol-Myers project. The company's identity is currently shielded from state officials -- it deals through intermediaries behind the code name Project Magellan -- but officials say that Massachusetts is competing with potential sites in Europe and Asia. Development officers are currently waiting to hear back from the company on the state's proposal.

Massachusetts is launching a $100 million fund specifically to lure facilities that will create new jobs. To qualify, a company has to plan to add at least 100 jobs within two years, and keep them for at least five years. The money, approved in last year's economic-stimulus bill and funded by bonds, is intended to build up needed municipal infrastructure, such as water mains, sewers, and highway ramps.

Before Bristol-Myers came to Massachusetts, the Legislature had to vote on a special bond to pay for the utilities and land preparation the plant required.

Bob Coughlin, undersecretary for business development in the Patrick administration, said the state is accepting grant applications and plans to begin giving out the money in September.

Asked about the Shire facility, he said the state was working with the company to keep its manufacturing in the state.

Shire spokesman Matt Cabrey said the company has had very good dialogue with Massachusetts development officials, but has not yet settled on a location for its plant. The company expects to pick a site later this year.

Shire Human Genetic Therapies, the division formerly known as Transkaryotic Therapeutics, makes two injectible drugs for rare genetic diseases at its Alewife plant. One of them treats Fabry disease, which causes circulatory problems, pain in the extremities, and kidney breakdown. Another treats children with Hunter syndrome, a rare and often fatal disorder that causes bulging features, growth problems, mental retardation, and serious organ damage. The Hunter drug was introduced last year.

With another drug for genetic disease in late-stage clinical trials, Shire anticipates doubling its overall workforce in the next five years, Cabrey said, although the location of those jobs will depend partly on where its new plant is built.

Stephen Heuser can be reached at sheuser@globe.com.