Drug firm sanofi-aventis breaks ground on Oro Valley expansion
Summary:
Sanofi-aventis, the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company, broke ground Nov. 15 on a $40 million research facility in Oro Valley's Innovation Park. The new center should bring 40 new jobs and strengthen greater Tucson's reputation as an emerging biotechnology hub.
Full Story:
Sanofi-aventis, the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company, broke ground Nov. 15 on a $40 million research facility in Oro Valley's Innovation Park. The new center will provide twice the space of the firm's current site, accommodating the firm's current 68 Tucson-area employees, plus an expected 40 new staff.
The expansion, which should be finished in June 2009, "validates our ability to attract foreign investment," said Joe Snell, president of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, in the Arizona Daily Star. The development "represents the high-wage jobs we want and need," he added.
Researchers at the 110,350-square-foot facility will expand the work of sanofi-aventis on early-stage drug development—what the company calls "combinatorial technologies"—investigating the therapeutic properties of new chemical compounds.
"This new, state-of-the-art facility will enable our local scientific team to enhance its impact on the sanofi-aventis drug-discovery pipeline," said Jean-Marc Herbert, senior vice president of discovery research.
"We now have the critical mass in place that will put Oro Valley on the map for biotech and biomedical industries," said Oro Valley mayor Paul Loomis, in the Northwest Explorer.
Other biotech firms at the Innovation Park include Ventana Medical Systems Inc. and Integrated Biomolecule Corp., along with Northwest Medical Center, a hospital and medical-offices complex.
The Oro Valley operation now under the sanofi-aventis name was established in 1990 by University of Arizona professors Evan Hersh, Victor Hruby, Kitt Lamm, and Sydney Salmon. Several acquisitions and mergers left the company in the possession of Aventis when that firm was purchased for $65 billion by Sanofi-Synthelabo in 2004.
For more information:
"French pharmaceutical giant cites talent, lifestyle in Oro Valley expansion," The Arizona Daily Star, 11/16/2007
"Sanofi-aventis expands presence in Tucson," The Northwest Explorer, 11/15/2007