'A Very, Very Good Day'
BYLINE: By Tom Spoth, tspoth@lowellsun.com
DEVENS -- Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to develop drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cancer at its new biologics facility in Devens.
State officials are hoping the biopharmaceutical giant's presence will also help cure Massachusetts' economic woes.
"It's a very, very good day," Gov. Deval Patrick told a crowd of more than 100 people at a groundbreaking ceremony held yesterday. "(This) is a perfect illustration of how we make economic growth work in Massachusetts."
The Bristol-Myers campus, expected to be operational in 2009, will initially employ 350 workers in four main buildings -- a manufacturing plant, a central utility building, an administrative/quality control center and a warehouse/storage structure. In time, several additional buildings could be added and up to 1,000 people could work at the site, according to Bristol-Myers officials.
The $750 million campus will be the largest capital investment in Bristol-Myers' 120-year history. Massachusetts worked overtime to win the project, beating out sites in Ireland, Singapore, New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina.
Patrick credited former Gov. Mitt Romney and his economic-development team for their work in attracting Bristol-Myers, which announced last June that it would build in Devens.
"We intend to carry forward the same sense of ... commitment to expanding growth," Patrick said.
The commitment of Bristol-Myers, a pharmaceutical-industry leader, to the Devens site has already sparked significant interest from other firms in that sector.
State Rep. Jamie Eldridge, a Democrat from Acton whose district includes most of Devens, noted that the Legislature poured about $54 million into infrastructure improvements to attract Bristol-Myers. The investment was worth it, he said.
Bristol-Myers CEO Jim Cornelius said the company picked Devens because of the government's support, as well as the region's strong labor pool. Cornelius had been interim CEO since Peter Dolan was fired in September 2006, but was officially given the job last week.
James Robinson, chairman of the company's board of directors, said Massachusetts boasts a "commitment to scientific innovation that is second to none." He pledged that the company will reciprocate the goodwill extended by state leaders.
"Thank you for selling us a little bit of land," Robinson said slyly in a slight Southern drawl, addressing Eldridge, Rep. Robert Hargraves of Groton and Sen. Pamela Resor of Acton. Bristol-Myers bought the 89-acre site for $3.65 million from MassDevelopment, the quasi-public agency that is guiding development at Devens, a former Army base.
Resor preferred to focus on the Bristol-Myers facility's medical, not economic, benefits.
"I watched my mother suffer from rheumatoid arthritis," Resor said. "For me, this is a particularly wonderful thought, that this will be developing relief for that disease that is so needed."
The Devens complex will support production of the drug Orencia, which treats rheumatoid arthritis. Other biologics compounds in development would treat different kinds of cancer and solid organ transplant rejection. Biologics are drugs made from organic material instead of chemical compounds.
Bristol-Myers started construction in Devens this February, and heavy equipment hummed and beeped in the background during yesterday's ceremony. Once the company and state officials had said their piece, they adjourned to a small tent to sign a long, white ceremonial steel beam.
Using a black marker, Patrick scribbled above his signature these words: "With pride and high hopes!"