EMD Serono plans $50m expansion
Biotech will add jobs in Billerica
Add EMD Serono Inc. to the growing list of drug companies expanding in Massachusetts.
The biotech company says it plans to spend $50 million on a 125,000-square-foot addition to a building in Billerica, allowing it to consolidate local research operations and have space to grow. EMD Serono said it also hopes to hire 100 more researchers in Billerica by 2012.
"It's a clear commitment to Massachusetts," said Elmar Schnee, the president of Merck Serono SA, the Swiss company that includes EMD Serono. Schnee said the company considered expanding in Germany or Switzerland, where it also has significant research centers, but was impressed with Massachusetts' roster of top research universities and its cluster of biopharmaceutical companies, which could make it easier to find scientists to hire.
EMD Serono is just the latest in a parade of biotech and pharmaceutical companies that have unveiled plans to increase their footprints here. Genzyme Corp., based in Cambridge, is expanding its Allston manufacturing plant and building a facility in Framingham. Shire PLC is building a campus in Lexington as part of plans to add 680 jobs in the state. Sepracor Inc. is constructing another building next to its Marlborough headquarters. And Organogenesis Inc. recently leased a third building for its Canton campus.
"It looks like a very strong growth industry at this point," said Peter Abair, economic development director of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which estimates there were nearly 43,000 biotech workers in the state as of 2005, a 26 percent increase from 2001.
Though biotech remains a relatively small slice of the state's overall employment, it is considered important because it offers the potential of continued long- term growth and high salaries. It is also believed to pump more money into the local economy than many other industries, because it relies primarily on exports, rather than local sales.
In the case of EMD Serono, the firm already has a long history in the state. Switzerland's Serono established its US headquarters in Massachusetts more than a quarter-century ago and has gradually added employees since then. It now has 500 employees in Rockland and 150 in Billerica.
Still, the future of the company's local operations was in question after Serono went on the auction block two years ago. Merck KGaA, a German pharmaceutical and chemical company, eventually bought Serono for $13 billion last year. To avoid confusion with New Jersey-based Merck & Co., Merck Serono operates in the United States as EMD Serono.
After the sale, Merck Serono told employees it was committed to US operations. Executives said the company is delivering on its promise with the Billerica expansion. The company plans to formally unveil the details this morning at an event in Billerica, featuring Governor Deval Patrick and other public officials.
In addition to the 100 scientists it plans to hire over the next four years, EMD Serono said it will transfer 100 researchers from Rockland to Billerica. The company wants to combine its research operations - which focus primarily on developing cancer drugs - in one location. EMD Serono said it hopes to break ground on the building addition early next year and finish construction by 2010.
Executives said the moves will also free up space in both Rockland and Billerica for more employees. Executives said the company decided to expand the research operations in Billerica rather than Rockland, because it already owned additional land there. It is also the site of a small protein manufacturing plant, which produces small quantities of experimental drugs for clinical trials.
EMD Serono president Fereydoun Firouz said the company wants to take advantage of standard state incentives available to help businesses expand.
"We are not getting anything beyond or above that," he added.
The company said it is also negotiating with the town of Billerica for a potential property tax break, but did not provide details. Billerica officials did not return calls seeking comment. Kofi Jones, a spokeswoman for the state's economic development agency, declined to comment.
Merck Serono's flagship product is the multiple sclerosis drug Rebif, which generated $1.9 billion in global sales last year. The company also sells a variety of fertility drugs, growth therapies, and other medications.
EMD Serono is working on developing a set of cancer drugs, none of which are yet on the market. In addition to research, the company's local operations also help coordinate clinical trials and work with US regulators to gain approval for the parent company's drugs.
Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com.
