The decision by Dow Chemical Co. to shutter its subsidiary, Dowpharma, a 62-person manufacturing operation in Smithfield, should not deter economic-development officials from aggressively pursuing biotech manufacturing as an economic generator here in Rhode Island.
Just three years ago, Dow was talking about building a $100 million addition to its Smithfield facility, part of a grander plan to produce mammalian cell cultures for use in the production of a new generation of medicines.
But timing is everything. Unfortunately, according to Dow officials, the company was just shy of timing things right for the manufacturing operation to be profitable. And so now the company will forego that expansion here and do similar work at existing labs on the West Coast.
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Biotech experts here were not surprised by the Dow decision. They explain that contract manufacturing in the biotech industry is a competitive – and especially tight – market.
They also say something else. And it’s an important point.
Biotech manufacturing remains a very potent weapon in boosting the state’s economy.
Experts point to the staggering success of Amgen and its enormous manufacturing facility in West Greenwich where hundreds of good-paying jobs have been created in the past two years alone. As of today, Amgen employs nearly 1,300 Rhode Islanders. The company has invested $1 billion in its operation here.
Gregory Paquette, director of the biotechnology and clinical laboratory science programs at the University of Rhode Island, sees the decision by Dow as disappointing, but not necessarily a blow to a biotechnology manufacturing industry here that is clearly buoyed by Amgen.
“They are so big and still growing … and there are another four or five smaller companies out there that are still growing,” said Paquette. “As long as Amgen is here, pursuing biotech will continue to be a good economic-development plan for the state.”
Dow Chemical is leaving Smithfield at the end of next month, but the company is leaving behind a state-of-the-art biotech manufacturing facility and dozens of highly skilled workers. This, in a state that is already home to URI, Brown University and several other colleges that create a deep talent pool for workers in this field.
These are rare attributes. State economic-development officials should be able to sell them.
