Pfizer said today it broke ground on a $200 million biologics clinical manufacturing facility in Andover, MA, a project that will expand its campus in the town as well as its workforce in the Bay State.

Approximately 75 new employees will be hired to support clinical manufacturing at the five-story, 175,000-square-foot facility, which the company said is expected to begin operation in January 2019.

Pfizer said the clinical manufacturing facility will enable production of vaccines as well as complex biologics. The facility will contain five independent manufacturing suites intended to support Pfizer’s biologics research effort, as well as include:

  • A flexible design to enable Next Generation Manufacturing, which combines innovative product design with sustainable practices, continuous improvement, and workforce development
  • Single-use bioreactors and disposable process technologies
  • Clinical manufacturing options designed to offer the lowest cost and greatest flexibility for efficiently driving new treatments to patients.

The new facility will generate 200 construction jobs and be located within Pfizer’s Andover campus, where 1200 employees now work at seven buildings that house labs, clinical and commercial manufacturing suites, and support areas. The campus also includes a multiproduct manufacturing facility designed to allow clinical and commercial products to be manufactured simultaneously.

“Andover is a crucial part of our global footprint for both clinical and commercial manufacturing, and we believe it provides an attractive location for growth in the coming years,” John Ludwig, svp, BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences in Pfizer R&D, said in a statement.

At its 2016 Annual Town Meeting on May 2, the Town of Andover approved a 5-year tax-increment financing agreement that would tax Pfizer at its current property value for the first 3 years and at 65% of value for years 4 and 5 despite increased property value due to the new facility.

The agreement would give Pfizer up to $2.9 million in tax breaks, while generating $3.9 million in taxes for Andover over 10 years, The Andover Townsman reported on April 14.

Pfizer has approximately 2000 employees based in Massachusetts. The pharma giant opened an R&D hub in Cambridge, MA, in 2014 that consolidated staffers previously based at three locations within the region.

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