Abbott Labs looks back at its local roots
Abbott Laboratories is celebrating its 20th year in Worcester and expects many more years here, according to Peter Moesta, divisional vice president of biologics manufacturing at Worcester’s Abbott Bioresearch Center.
The company recently brought many of its scientists together for a day to hear scientific lectures, socialize and talk science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Campus Center.
The gathering was also a chance to talk about Abbott’s history and what it sees in its future here in Worcester.
A Look Back
Abbott’s Worcester roots began when BASF AG set up a facility in Worcester. Moesta was a member of an early group sent by the German BASF to get the project up and running. He has stayed through Abbott’s purchase of BASF’s Knoll Pharmaceutical Co. in 2000 for $6.9 billion in cash.
In 1989, Moesta said the BASF group had 26 employees, which grew to 320 people by 2001 when the deal between BASF and Abbott closed. The employee count now stands at 700 people.
“The strength of the site is its research and development mission. In the future we will likely continue to expand as we bring more science into the site,” he said.
Abbott’s Humira, a drug that reduces the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, was discovered and developed here. It was approved in 2002 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Humira has also been approved to treat psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis. The drug now has global sales of more than $4 billion a year.
But Abbott’s Worcester campus isn’t standing still. One of the company’s focuses right now is a drug development technology that allows one treatment to target multiple disease-causing molecules, according to company officials.
Take rheumatoid arthritis, for example. The disease has a variety of symptons, such as inflammation, additional blood vessel formation and the erosion of bone and cartilage. With its new technology, Abbott researchers have created a single drug candidate that attacks several of the disease’s mechanisms at the same time. While nothing has been tested in humans, the results so far are promising, Moesta said.
“We want to keep the creative spirit alive here with innovative new treatments,” he said.
The company, although it started out as BASF, has always been welcomed by Worcester with open arms from the very beginning, Moesta said.
As part of Moesta’s presentation on the site’s history, photos of Jordan Levy, who was Worcester’s mayor at the time, and former Gov. Michael Dukakis, flashed on the screen along with other BASF officials.
The site near the UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass Medical School that BASF eventually called home was readied quickly with all the necessary permits, thanks in part to the Worcester Business Development Corp.
The WBDC saw more than 20 years ago that traditional manufacturing was declining and that computer companies were struggling. This led them to envision the city’s economic future. After much research and debate, they decided to build a biotechnology research park, where Abbott is now located.
The simple truth is that without that research, debate and the decision to forge ahead even though it was far from a sure thing, Worcester might never have had the biotechnology industry it has today.
“If it weren’t for the Worcester Business Development Corp. we wouldn’t be here,” Moesta said.
Got news for our Biotech Buzz column? Contact WBJ Staff Writer Eileen Kennedy at ekennedy@wbjournal.com.
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