Emergent BioSolutions's $60 Million Expansion to Double Current Space and Create 158 New Jobs

Emergent BioSolutions (EBS)'s $60 Million Expansion to Double Current Space and Create 158 New Jobs
February 4, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BALTIMORE – Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions will double a 58,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and expand the number of jobs in the area thanks in part to a $2 million loan from the state, the company announced Wednesday.

Emergent BioSolutions, which develops vaccines and other pharmaceuticals, currently employs about177 people in its two Baltimore facilities. The expansion, expected to cost approximately $60 million, is slated to potentially double the company’s 58,000-square-foot space to include additional manufacturing, quality control labs and warehouse space. Additionally the doubling of space at the Lombard Street facility will allow the company to hire 158 staff members over the next four years.

The state of Maryland’s $2 million conditional loan was through the Department of Business and Economic Development’s Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund. The loan was offered to Emergent BioSolutions to support a two-phase project that includes the relocation and expansion of the company’s headquarters and research and development site in Gaithersburg. That site was expanded in 2013. An additional $750,000 in funding for the expansion was provided by Montgomery County, where Gaithersburg is located.

BioSolutions expects to break ground on the expansion sometime this year.

“We are pleased to continue to expand our footprint and remain committed to making Maryland one of the most vibrant life sciences hubs in the country. We thank the state and local governments for fostering economic initiatives to support companies such as Emergent in its mission of protecting and enhancing life,” CEO Daniel J. Abdun-Nab said in a statement.

In 2012 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services committed $222 million to establish Emergent’s Baltimore (Lombard Street) facility as a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing to facilitate advanced development of medical countermeasures, including flu vaccinations, and provide domestic surge manufacturing capabilities to address public health threats, according to a statement released by the state of Maryland.

Emergent BioSolutions Emergent was one of the companies tapped by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to investigate producing ZMapp, an experimental drug for Ebola. The company also manufactures BioThrax, the only FDA-licensed vaccine for the prevention of anthrax disease.

In December the company announced it acquired the EV-035 series of molecules from Evolva Holding SA. EV-035 is a series of novel small molecule broad spectrum antibiotics of the 4-oxoquinolizine class and targets bacterial type IIa topoisomerase, according to a company press release. A vaccine is being developed as a potential oral and IV treatment for B. pseudomallei under a three-year, $15 million contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.

In 2014 Emergent BioSolutions showed revenues of $445 to $450 million, a 43 percent increase over 2013. The company is predicting revenues of $510 to $540 million for 2015, a 17 percent increase over the previous year.


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