Biogen investing $350 million in Denmark

US biotechnology firm Biogen has purchased a 60-acre site, with anoption for an additional 36 acres, in Hillerod, Denmark, which the company has earmarked for its first major European manufacturing facility. Biogen plans to invest $350 million into the project, which will create 400 new jobs in the region.

The Danish facility will include an aseptic filling and finishing plant and a cell culture unit for the manufacture of therapeutic proteins currently in Biogen's development pipeline. The firm's multiple sclerosis treatment Avonex (interferon beta-1a) will also be filled and finished at the facility, and work on the unit will start in early 2002.

James Mullen, Biogen's chief executive, said the new facility will give the firm "greater flexibility and control of finished product, help us ensure capacity worldwide and enhance our presence outside the USA." Mr Mullen said that Denmark was chosen for the site after "14 months of thorough research and evaluation of many opportunities," and claimed that the country is extremely competitive "because of its pro-business attitude and the quality of its workforce."