Officials from both Immunex Corp. and Amgen Inc., following the announcement of an acquisition agreement last week, said the deal will not alter any plans for a $500 million manufacturing facility under way in West Greenwich. Amgen announced on Dec. 17 that it has agreed to buy rival Immunex for $16 billion in cash and stock. Seattle-based Immunex broke ground last month on the 500,000-square-foot West Greenwich facility, said to be the world’s largest cell-manufacturing plant upon its projected completion in 2005. For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role… The facility, which will employ 350 people, is being built for production of Enbrel, Immunex’s blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug that hit the market in 1998. Demand for the drug has boomed since its introduction, sending Immunex scrambling to meet excess demand. The list of arthritis patients on the waiting list for the injectable Enbrel drug could hit 80,000 by next year, and the bottleneck could cost Immunex more than $200 million in lost sales next year, according to analysts. ”There still is a need for Enbrel production capacity in Rhode Island,” said Cathy Keck-Anderson, an Immunex spokeswoman. “It is essential to meet the supply needs for Enbrel.” Amgen Chairman and chief executive officer Kevin Sharer concurred that the facility under way in West Greenwich, along with another 200,000-square-foot plant at the same site that Immunex has spent $450 million retrofitting, are imperative for future Enbrel sales. In fact, Amgen’s press release announcing the deal said that boosting Enbrel production would be the company’s “biggest task.” “We intend to apply our significant resources and expertise in protein manufacturing to step up production and distribution of Enbrel to meet strong market demand,” Sharer said in a written statement. “The first manufacturing facility in Rhode Island is completed and we are committed to completing construction of the second plant to help meet that demand.” Analysts said Amgen likely considered Immunex’ plans in Rhode Island carefully when weighing the merger, because the deal hinges almost exclusively on Enbrel, which is expected to become the most successful biotechnology drug ever by reaching $3 billion in sales by 2005. ”(Amgen) had to take a good look at what the manufacturing capacity was going to be in 2003, 2004 and beyond in order to justify the acquisition,” said Frank DiLorenzo, a biotechnology analyst at Standard & Poor’s who covers Immunex. “They must have liked what they saw.” The acquisition still needs approval from regulators and the companies’ boards. It is expected to close in the second half of next year.
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