Bristol Myers Squibb East Syracuse Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility, United States of America

The Bristol Myers Squibb East Syracuse campus is over 60 years old. Launched in 1943, the pharmaceutical manufacturing facility made nearly 70% of the penicillin produced in the world until the mid 2000s. A two-phase project initiated in 2010 is underway to transform the site from a penicillin-manufacturing facility into a park-type biotech research centre, reflecting the company's overall strategy.

The project will take nearly two years to complete. It will see the demolition of half of the buildings on the campus, which have become obsolete and remained idle since penicillin production was phased out in mid-2000s The project is expected to cost well over ten million dollars.

East Syracuse facility

The site is a large campus of 118 buildings. Spread over 90 acres, it accommodates vital facilities such as the latest biotechnology process development laboratories. There is about 1.2 million square feet of space dedicated to administration, research and manufacturing. State-of-the-art equipment within the facility includes 5,000l fermentation bioreactors.

Bristol Myers project

The first phase in the site's transformation will establish green areas and demolish structures related to previous antibiotic manufacturing. Buildings that accommodate laboratories, administration and manufacturing, occupying over 500,000ft² of space, will be torn down during this phase. The demolition will free nearly 42% of the total square footage of the campus. The existing laboratories will also be renovated to host wet chemistry and instrument labs. Four buildings including chemical laboratories and office areas will also be combined.

The second phase, still in the planning stage, will oversee the end of more obsolete structures.

If approved, it will include the demolition of the administration building at the plant's entrance from Thompson Road, which is one of the few buildings visible to the public from the road. A total of 150,000ft² of space will be demolished. 

The first phase is scheduled to finish in 2013.  Some works began in 2010, including the demolition of a 210ft boiler stack, the tallest structure on the campus.

The project will reduce the facility's total operating expenditure and total energy consumption. Other green elements of the project will include reusing and recycling the materials. However, no new structures will be built as part of the project.

Contractors

The lead contractor for the project is Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. The contract includes design and construction services. The firm will undertake activities such as expanding good manufacturing compliance, and adding capacities for simultaneous production and bioreactor harvest with centrifuge technology. It will also renovate the utilities and support systems within the facility.

Antibiotic production

For decades the facility has developed a bulk active antibiotic that constitutes the active pharmaceutical ingredient for producing penicillin. However, in the last decade, the facility's operations have shifted to developing processes to manufacture biologics, or medicines made from plant and animal-derived cells.

The facility has the capacity to make biologic medicines for clinical trails and for commercial drug launch. Full-scale production can be carried out in smaller volumes in the Syracuse facility. Large-scale production will be carried out at other Bristol Myers facilities.

Cell technology

The Syracuse facility develops biologics by growing animal or plant-derived cells in highly controlled environments. The cells are mixed with the correct amount of oxygen and nutrients and kept for the right time limit at the right temperature and pH. During the process, the cells produce proteins that are harvested, purified and made into biologic drugs that treat a host of diseases including cancer, arthritis and diabetes.