News
Financing approved for biologic drug plant
2003-07-17
By Steve Lackmeyer
Oklahoma City, OK
A financing plan to build a $12 million bio-pharmaceuticals plant for a start-up company won unanimous approval Wednesday from City Urban Renewal Commissioners, who hailed it as a major step forward for Oklahoma City's biotech industry.
Representatives of Cytovance Biologics confirmed the company has chosen Oklahoma City as the site for the plant, which would join the decade-old Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park east of downtown.
Commissioners approved building the plant with $7 million from the Tax Increment Financing District and agreed to spend another $5 million to build a second parking garage for the research park.
The company was founded by John F. Crowley, who was president and chief executive of Oklahoma City-based Novazyme Pharmaceuticals until it was sold in 2001 to Massachusetts-based Genzyme Corp. for $225 million.
"We beat out Kansas City and St. Louis for this site," Commission Chairman Fred Hall said. "It's really a coup for Oklahoma City to be able to obtain this first manufacturing site."
The company will employ "40 to 60" people, including biologists and microbiologists, technical specialists and a quality assurance team. The company expects to draw heavily on the pool of talent produced by the OU Health Sciences Center.
Cytovance is to spend $2 million to equip the 26,000-square-foot plant, which is expected to open by late 2004. The Presbyterian Health Foundation, which has supported much of the research park's development to date, has indicated it will back any financing needed by Cytovance. Hall said Bancfirst is preparing to provide loan financing for the project.
Biologics are a new generation of medicines based on natural proteins, and protein-based therapeutics are now emerging from laboratories as options to treat cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
The plant is being designed to provide clinical through phase-two testing trials for drugs developed by other companies operating out of the research park. Crowley predicted the plant will boost the profile of the research park, which has grown to five buildings in the past decade.
"Since the overwhelming majority of early stage biologic medicine products are being developed in the U.S. by small- to mid-sized biotech companies with no in-house manufacturing capability and capacity, an opportunity exists for Cytovance's Oklahoma facility to become the definitive contract manufacturer of choice for the production of proteins and antibodies for clinical trials," Crowley said.
Hall noted Oklahoma City won the plant despite opposition from Kansas City and St. Louis, which are using tobacco lawsuit proceeds to foster their own biotech industries.
The financing mechanism used to build the plant in Oklahoma City will be supported by growth in property taxes with the approval of local taxing entities, including schools, libraries, the city and county. Oklahoma City has two districts: one for the health sciences district and one downtown.
Promoters of the project say the plant is expected to cut development costs for companies already in the research park and boost Oklahoma City's position in the biotech industry.
"This is a complex project, but everyone affiliated with it recognizes its importance to the future of Oklahoma's biotechnology industry," said Carl Edwards, chairman of the Presbyterian Health Foundation.
"The facility will firmly establish Cytovance and Oklahoma as a domestic leader in biologics contract manufacturing, offering simple site capabilities for development, trials and large-scale specialized manufacturing to specific standards governing this emerging industry."
© The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and its subsidiary, NewsOK.com.