Devens To Be A Billion-Dollar Site For Bristol-Myers Squibb
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The 89-acre Bristol-Myers Squibb campus pokes out of the greenery of Devens. The biopharma company is investing in an expansion. At right: a BMS support facility, one of four buildings on the property.
Five years after Bristol-Myers Squibb finished building its first Massachusetts manufacturing facility in Devens, the region continues to reap the benefits of the biopharmaceutical company's decision to locate here.
That's because Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) is expanding its operations in Devens, bringing new jobs and tax revenue, and adding to the ever-expanding life sciences footprint in Massachusetts. The $250 million project, slated to begin at the end of 2013, will add two buildings to the existing Bristol-Myers' Devens campus, which now includes four structures on an 89-acre campus tucked away off Jackson Road. The facility has focused mainly on large-scale bulk biologics manufacturing. At roughly 200,000 square feet, the new construction will add capabilities, including early production of investigational biologics medicines and manufacturing to support clinical drug trials.
John Patella, manager of communications for global manufacturing and supply, said those capabilities "should be thought of (as) a bridge…between research and development and manufacturing."
All told, Bristol-Myers will spend nearly $1 billion on its Devens facility. The expansion will make Devens a more viable site for newcomers, according to Peter Lowitt, director of the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC).
Right now, Bristol-Myers' drug Orencia, which treats rheumatoid arthritis, is manufactured in Devens. Patella said once the expansion is complete, the company will be able to scale up operations in research and development, as well as manufacturing. Bristol-Myers will continue to manufacture Orencia at the site, as well as other drugs that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Patella said.
A more robust operation will require a larger workforce. Bristol-Myers has said the expansion will create about 350 new jobs in Devens, which will be added to the current payroll of 400.
Growth Was An Option From The Start
The original $750 million investment in Devens was the largest in the Bristol-Myers' history, a clear indication that the company was committed to its presence in Massachusetts.
In fact, the Devens campus was designed in 2009 to accommodate future expansion, Patella said, with ample acreage and a building layout suitable for additions. The company considered other locations for its new development and manufacturing capabilities, but Patella said it made the most sense to centralize operations. He said state incentives and proximity to a qualified workforce made expanding in place all the more enticing.
MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, agreed to provide a partial, temporary abatement of the incremental property taxes from new construction, which will reduce taxes an average of 38 percent over a 13-year term, Patella said.
Bristol-Myers estimates it will save about $5 million, thanks to the deal. The company is also eligible for additional incentives through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which oversees a 10-year, $1 billion initiative put in place by the Patrick administration to boost the life sciences industry, if job-creation goals are met.
Tax revenue generated by the expansion project will be directed to MassDevelopment and building permit fees will be paid to the DEC, which employs a streamlined permitting process to make construction easier for businesses.
A Booming Sector
Job growth indicators show that support for the life sciences here has spurred remarkable growth for the sector in recent years. The Boston Foundation examined the industry's progress in the March edition of its publication titled 'Understanding Boston.' The report found that employment growth in the life sciences industry outpaced all other sectors by far, rising 27.3 percent between 2001 and 2011. Nationwide, life sciences employment growth was less than half that rate, at 11.9 percent. Employment growth outpaced other big life sciences competitor states, including Texas, Florida, California, New York and New Jersey, the report said.
Angus McQuilken, spokesman for the MLSC, said that, incentives aside, life sciences companies want to locate and grow in the Bay State because of the opportunity for cluster development, a goal of the life sciences initiative intended to foster collaboration in the industry.
"Companies come here because they want to tap into schools and the workforce, and partner with existing industry leaders," McQuilken said.
Other biopharma companies that have recently expanded in Massachusetts include Merck Serono in Rockland and Billerica, and Novartis in Cambridge, McQuilken said.
And Bristol-Myers doesn't stand alone in MetroWest. It has alliances with other biopharma companies in the region, according to its most recent annual report.
The company co-developed the drug Onglyza, which treats Type 2 diabetes, with AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company with facilities in Westborough. It has also partnered with Sanofi, owner of Genzyme Corp. with facilities in Framingham, on the development and marketing of Plavix, a drug used to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
And Bristol-Myers is part of a larger biopharma cluster in Devens, said Lowitt of the DEC. The company has neighbors within the innovation technology business district that include Johnson Matthey, a British biopharma company, and Bionostics Inc., which makes quality-control products for the health care industry.
Setting A Course For The Valley's Future
Though Bristol Myers left room to grow here after it arrived in 2009, Lowitt said the extent of the expansion was not known until recently. He expects the people who will fill the positions will be research and development professionals, and Lowitt said Bristol-Myers will attract candidates from throughout Massachusetts and beyond.
The hope is that the expansion will bring other technology companies into Devens, Lowitt said.
Although it's not a biopharma outlier in Devens, he said the significance of Bristol-Myers' presence there is unrivaled.
"Bristol-Myers Squibb came here and they probably made the future of Nashoba Valley," Lowitt said.
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