Genzyme to Expand its Suburban Boston Campus

Genzyme Corporation, a biotech company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, plans to double the size of its manufacturing and research facilities in nearby Framingham, according to a story by Scott Van Voorhis in yesterday’s Boston Globe. The plan involves doubling the size of that facility and adding up to 1,000 new jobs, according to a company executive quoted in the article.

Genzyme submitted plans with the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs detailing the addition of 757,000 square feet of space over the next decade for manufacturing, offices, and research labs. This expansion plan, according to the Globe, comes on top of a new manufacturing facility and quality-control lab scheduled to open next year.

The new manufacturing plant will produce Genzyme’s drugs Fabrazyme and Cerezyme, developed to treat the rare genetic disorders Fabry disease and Gaucher disease, respectively. Van Voorhis says the company had to close down its manufacturing lines for these drugs at its Allston, Massachusetts plant when contamination problems developed at that facility. The Food and Drug Administration is now reviewing Genzyme’s production processes as a result of those problems.

Nonetheless, in anticipation of the expansion, local schools and colleges are expected to increase their offerings of science and mathematics education, according to the article. Smaller companies that do business with Genzyme are also expected to open or relocate to the vicinity.

Genzyme, according to its Web site, had revenues of $4.5 billion in 2009 and employs 12,000 workers worldwide. In 2009, it spent $804 million on R&D.

Hat tip: Fierce Biotech. Photo: MathKnight/Wikimedia Commons