June 25, 2007 5:22 PM

Drug firm eyes local expansion
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 5:22 PM

Life sciences folks, take note:

An international pharmaceutical company [Shire Pharmaceuticals] is eyeing Lexington as its new center of operations for genetic therapies, promising hundreds of high-paying jobs and a $394 million investment over the next four years.
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The publicly traded company, founded in the United Kingdom in 1986, researches and manufactures drugs across the globe. The division of Shire that is looking to expand to Lexington is Human Genetic Therapies, which researches treatments of rare genetic diseases. Specifically, the Lexington plant would produce at least two drugs: Elaprase, which treats Hunter syndrome, and Replagal, which is used to treat Fabry disease.