Roche Dedicates World's Largest PCR-Manufacturing Facility
Roche executives and key customers were joined at the dedication ceremony this morning by government representatives, which included The Honorable Mike Ferguson, Congressman from New Jersey, The Honorable "Kip" Bateman, New Jersey Assemblyman and The Honorable Robert Bouwman, Mayor of Branchburg. Franz B. Humer, CEO and President, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, and Mr. Heino von Prondzynski, CEO Division Roche Diagnostics and Member of the Executive Committee, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, were also in attendance.
"With recent PCR-based advancements like the FDA-cleared AmpliChip CYP450 Test, it is of utmost importance to have a facility that can respond to the increasing market demand for our products," said Heino von Prondzynski. "We anticipate that the consolidation of our manufacturing processes and the integration of our New Jersey business into one facility will greatly benefit our business practice as we continue to support the role of PCR technology in changing medicine."
Roche Diagnostics, a division of the Roche Group, has spent more than $150 million for construction of the new structure and renovations to the existing 185,000 square foot facility. The new 285,000 square foot plant allows Roche Molecular Diagnostics (RMD), located in Pleasanton, CA and a business area of Roche Diagnostics, to consolidate all functions currently operating in New Jersey to one centralized Branchburg location. The new facility will employ up to 800 people and supply approximately 350 new job opportunities in Somerset County (250 jobs during 2005 and 2006, 100 jobs thereafter). Foundational work on the new facility began in April 2003.
"I applaud Roche's continued commitment to the Branchburg area. To have such a prestigious technology like PCR right here in our backyard is quite an honor. Roche has also truly been a good corporate neighbor since they came to our community back in 1991 in many regards," commented The Honorable Christopher 'Kip' Bateman, Assemblyman, District 16, Somerset County, New Jersey, who is a life-long resident of Branchburg.
"We purchased the land for the center in 1991, with ideas about how far we could go in the molecular testing marketplace. However, the reality of the manufacturing center far exceeds our original expectations and will aid us in better serving our customers and the growing demand for our products," said Heiner Dreismann, PhD, President of RMD.
In New Jersey, Roche Molecular Diagnostics produces PCR kits for the research, diagnostic and blood screening markets. The diagnostic kits are used for the detection and quantification of infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as for blood screening, including the West Nile Virus kit. The production range also includes reagents for a variety of diagnostic platforms, including microarray technology used in AmpliChip tests. Overall, Branchburg produces approximately 140,000 kits per month, which are distributed worldwide.
"Over the last four years, we have had a 46 percent increase in production volumes of our kits. As an example, in our blood screening business alone, where Roche Diagnostics' PCR-based tests are used to screen more units of blood worldwide than any other nucleic acid test, our test kits have been used to test more than 100 million blood donations from patients, " said Joanne Spadoro, Ph.D., Senior VP of Global Development and Operations, RMD. "This new manufacturing center signifies Roche Diagnostics' ongoing investment to the continued growth of molecular diagnostics."
The facility includes a 110,000 square foot, one-story manufacturing facility, a 33,000 short-term warehousing area, a 22,000 square foot packaging area and a 22,000 square foot utility area. Additionally, a two-story office building, totaling 33,000 square feet and connected to the main manufacturing facility, houses operations personnel. The remaining space is for common and mechanical areas. An outside warehouse, also located in Branchburg, was made fully operational in June 2004.