Exclusive Life Science Feature
ShireÕs
$210 Million
Single-Use
Gamble
BY ROB WRIGHT
I
n 2010, Shire (NASDAQ: SHPG) completed Project Atlas
— a biologics manufacturing facility (building 400) on
its Lexington, MA campus. At 200,000 gross square feet
(GSF) and a total direct cost of $210 million, the facility
represents a sizable investment. However, what makes
this facility different from most pharmaceutical manufacturing
buildings is that it takes significant advantage of single-use systems (SUS). In fact, its entire upstream line utilizes SUS technology. This story is made more interesting when you consider that
at the time when Project Atlas was conceived (2007), the company's annual sales revenues were $2.4 billion, with profit after
expenses of $82.4 million — $127.6 million shy of the plant's
$210 million dollar price tag.
December 2013
LifeScienceLeader.com
19