Genentech nears completion of Hillsboro plant; no plans for R&D
The firm, which is owned by Swiss drug giant Roche, first announced plans expand its US manufacturing operations in 2006, buying the 75-acre Hillsboro site later that year.
By 2008 Genentech had used 25-acres of the plot to build a fill and finish, distribution and labelling centre that has employed a staff of 250 people.
According to a report in the Portland Business Journal Genentech plans to package key products at the plant and hopes to win first manufacturing approval by 2011.
The PBJ goes on to suggest that Rituxan, Avastin and Herceptin, three of Genentech’s best selling products, will be made at the facility, although the firm has not yet outlined its manufacturing plans.
R&D expansion? Not at the moment, Genentech
What is clear is that Genentech has no immediate intention to turn the Hillsboro into a drug development base, despite considerable encouragement from attendees at yesterday’s opening ceremony.
Speaking at the event, Governor Ted Kulongoski said the proximity Oregon’s bioresearch infrastructure, notably the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), would encourage Genentech to add R&D capacity at the plant in due course.
Kulongoski also told the Oregonian newspaper that "If you look long-term, I think it is about R&D."
The suggestion was echoed by Arundeep Pradhan, VP of technology transfer and business development at OHSU who told the AP that the “potential for an expansion of that facility, into R&D or other areas, is relatively high."
However, Genentech’s global head of technical operations Timothy Moore responded that such an addition “Today, isn't on our horizon.”
This was reiterated by Barry Starkman, manager of the Hillsboro plant, who told the AP that although ''we purchased 75 acres here so that we had the ability to expand… at this point we don't have any specific plans to expand any further."
