Biogen draws back from Danish investment
construction of a large production plant at Hillerød in Denmark,
just three months after breaking ground on the facility
US biotechnology company Biogen has decided to postpone construction of a large production plant at Hillerød in Denmark, just three months after breaking ground on the facility. According to AFX News, which cites a report in the Biotech Denmark newsletter, Biogen has said it will instead boost capacity at its site in North Carolina.
The construction, which had been expected to complete in 2005, is the first part of a two-stage scheme predicted to cost in the region of $350 million and represented the US firm's first investment in production facilities outside the USA.
Birgitte Thygesen, deputy chief executive of Biogen's Danish unit, told the newsletter: "We've delayed the start of construction and nothing will happen before next year at the earliest."
Biogen has already invested DKK 450 million (€60m) in the Hillerød site, which had been earmarked to supply the active ingredients in the firm's Avonex (interferon beta-1a) for multiple sclerosis, Amevive (alefacept) for psoriasis and Antegren (natalizumab) for Crohn's disease.
