Emergent BioSolutions acquires 55,000 square foot manufacturing facility from MdBio Foundation

Nov 13 2009

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of a 55,000 square foot manufacturing facility from MdBio Foundation and the land on which the facility stands from the City of Baltimore for a total purchase price of $8.2 million. The facility, located within the City of Baltimore, Maryland, previously operated as a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed facility used by an experienced contract manufacturing organization (CMO) to produce a number of FDA approved products.

“Emergent is excited about this new facility in Baltimore because it houses several suites capable of manufacturing multiple products at the same time,” said Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions. “Accordingly, this facility will provide the flexibility to conduct large-scale manufacturing of rPA while also producing other products in our pipeline.”

Emergent worked closely with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), MdBio, the City of Baltimore, Baltimore Development Corporation, and other related governmental agencies to complete this transaction.

“Maryland is continuing to strengthen its biotechnology prowess by helping to grow industry leaders like Emergent BioSolutions,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “The transaction between MdBio and Emergent will maximize the value of the BioProcessing Center by maintaining a bio-manufacturing infrastructure for Maryland’s bioscience community, enabling additional investment to be made in the Center and ensuring that those high paying, highly skilled jobs are created and remain in Maryland.”

Emergent BioSolutions employs over 600 employees across the globe, with over 150 employees located in its corporate headquarters in Rockville and one of its product development sites in Gaithersburg.

“This acquisition reflects our commitment to both continually creating jobs and investing additional capital in the State of Maryland,” said Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, president and chief operating officer of Emergent BioSolutions. “We extend our sincere appreciation to the state and local governments for their ongoing support of our efforts to develop our local manufacturing capabilities and look forward to growing Emergent’s presence in the state.”

Mayor Sheila Dixon, commenting on the announcement, said, “The City of Baltimore is excited about welcoming Emergent BioSolutions to the Baltimore biotech community. With great research institutions such as Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland as potential partners in the area, we know that Emergent will be a wonderful contributor in the future.”

“Emergent’s decision to expand in Maryland underscores not only our rich research and development environment, but also our mission to support the complete product development life cycle that includes bio manufacturing,” said Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian S. Johansson. “The Department was pleased to work with MdBio Foundation and the Baltimore Development Corporation to bring this project to fruition.”

Source: Emergent BioSolutions Inc.