Biogen Idec's Hillerød plans back on Search articles AllThis weekArchiveIn & Out
22-6-2004 Print article (IE & NS 4+) Despite putting building plans on hold more than one year ago, Biogen Idec has given the green light to a lucrative new plant project in Hillerød US-based biotech Biogen Idec has announced plans to begin construction on a new plant for the production of multiple sclerosis drugs in Hillerød. The construction project has been budgeted at DKK 2 billion (270 million euros), and is expected to create 200 new jobs once the factory opens in 2008. Daily newspaper Frederiksborg County News ran the story yesterday.
Just one year ago, similar building plans were postponed indefinitely, following Biogen's merger with Idec to become Biogen Idec. At the time, Idec was in the process of building a similar plant for the production of MS medicine in the United States, which put the brakes on Biogen's construction plans in Hillerød. Biogen had already purchased a sizable land lot in Hillerød for DKK 60.8 million (10 million euros) in 2001.
Biogen Idec is reportedly ready to resume its shelved building plans again. A new sclerosis drug, antigren, which the company is hoping to have approved in the US and Europe, appears so promising that Biogen Idec has decided to open the Hillerød plant anyway.
"We're aiming to build as quickly as possible. We have a budget of USD 340 million and have received a grant of another USD 50 million to get started," said Birgitte Thygesen, deputy director of Biogen Idec's Danish division.
Biogen Idec expects construction on the plant to be completed in 2007, and ready for commercial production in 2008
|