Bristol-Myers Squibb plant has more than a big budget
Bristol-Myers Squibb can boast that it is the only project on the WBJ’s list of the largest construction projects in Central Massachusetts with a mascot.
The Devens plant – which is expected to be complete next year – has named the endangered Blanding’s Turtle as its official mascot, according to Joseph Tarnowski, a senior vice president with Bristol-Myers Squibb, who spoke recently at a North Central Chamber of Commerce luncheon about the project.
But the turtle isn’t the project’s only unique feature.
Economic Boost
The $750 million project at the former Fort Devens Army Base was a huge feather in the region’s cap when the drug company announced that it would build here in 2006. And since that announcement, the project has moved along quickly, with an official ground-breaking held in May 2007.
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The project includes manufacturing space for the production of one of BMS’s biologic compounds – Orencia – which is an injectable drug used to treat serious cases of rheumatoid arthritis. The compound is currently produced at a plant in Syracuse, N.Y., but that site was not designed to handle the full-scale manufacturing that BMS needs.
In addition to manufacturing space, the Devens facility will also include space for administrative functions, quality assurance, and storage.
The project is expected to be completed by 2009, although FDA approval for production of Orencia is not expected until two years later in 2011. Initially, the site will employ 350 people, but expansion at the site could bring that total to 550.      Â
