|
|
|
Kill Or Cure?
Pfizer announcement shifts center of biotech gravity in Connecticut. But that may not be bad for New Haven
|
Business New Haven
2/23/1998
By: Nick Raposo
|
Will Pfizer's and the state's new multi-million dollar investment in New London eclipse projects in and around greater New Haven?
Jon Soderstrom, associate director of Yale's Office of Cooperative Research, likens biotech in Connecticut to the development of California's infotech industry.
“Silicon Valley is not a town, or a city - it's a corridor,” he says. “In Connecticut, you have to start somewhere. To do that, you need to cluster around where the assets are. Pfizer is a huge asset, as is Yale, here.”
The upshot? “I don't see it as competition,” says Soderstrom. “I see it as healthy for the entire state.”
Jim Nolan, of Branford's Institutes for Pharmaceutical Discovery, agrees. “The more biotech that gets established in Connecticut, the more the pharmaceutical industry sees us as a hub for that, the better off we all are,” he says.
On February 3, Pfizer announced that it would build a new 400,000-square-foot clinical research facility on the 24-acre former New London Mills site. The facility will be used for the testing of new drugs in patients. This lab will be completed by the year 2000, and should be generating $129 million in payroll for almost 2,000 employees by 2002.
“We didn't choose the New London site in a vacuum,” says John Stratton, Pfizer's manager of research communications in Groton. “The state was extremely supportive, and the city was very interested in making the site attractive.”
They certainly were. The state is releasing its liens on the New London site, valued at about $4.5 million. It will also grant Pfizer sales tax relief on construction materials, services and equipment.
The state will also lend New London up to $7 million for improvements to the town's sewage treatment plant. Gov. John G. Rowland will accelerate a proposed $20 million refurbishment of Fort Trumbull, turning it into a state park.
The state is also throwing in up to $12.5 million for the New London Development Corp., not including the relocation of the adjaent Calimari Brothers industrial site, to the tune of $4.7 million.
And to pay for environmental clean-up and management, the state has pledged $19 million in Urban Site Remediation and Urban Action funds.
But that's not all. The state and New London are working on developing a biotech start-up “incubation” space in the former Undersea Naval Warfare Center, with Pfizer's help. “That complex, which is pretty large, would be made available for biotechnology incubator lab space. That's the target,” Stratton says. “[It would be] a scientific research center for start-up companies.”
“This is something the city of New London has been waiting for for at least four decades,” says William Riordan, president of the Southeastern Chamber of Commerce in New London. “Bringing Pfizer to New London will give us the boost we need to survive.”
He also cites Pfizer's dedication to local educational programs, the United Way, area colleges and the Nature Conservancy as central to the region's improvement.
Doing the math puts the state's possible costs at $68 million even before the proposed sales tax relief. This figure needs to be weighed against Pfizer's investment in the state.
Pfizer currently employs almost 3,000 people in Connecticut, the majority of whom have advanced degrees. Approximately 1,700 new research positions will be filled at its Groton and New London sites over the next few years. By 2003, the employment figure should total almost 6,000.
Pfizer spends approximately $1 billion a year in Connecticut on research and development.
So will all this state aid and new development going to diminish New Haven's piece of the pie?
“This is not about one region or another,” says Victor Budnick, president and executive director of Connecticut Innovations Inc. in Rocky Hill. “It's about making the state the preferred venue for the entire industry.”
“Anything that expands the pharmaceutical, biomedical industry in Connecticut is ultimately very good for all the regions of Connecticut,” says Fabio Sampoli of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. “The more companies that locate here, the better off we are. We wouldn't view that as competition at all.”
Jim Nolan, whose company develops drugs and brings them to human-testing stage, concurs. “The farther the larger [Pfizer's] organization goes in the clinical development area, the more drugs they're going to need, the more opportunities there are for companies like ours, which try to help fill their pipeline.”
Jon Soderstrom sums up the importance of a commitment like Pfizer's: “Once you get activity started, it tends to attract more investment from the private sector. All momentum is positive.”
Bring it on.
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
