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American Military News
04-05-2025
- Business
- American Military News
Merck plans to move manufacturing of its biggest drug, Keytruda, to a new US factory and lab in Delaware
Merck, the New Jersey-based drug giant, is spending $1 billion on a new Delaware factory to bring production of its best-selling cancer drug Keytruda to the U.S. and speed future drugs to market. Keytruda is currently made in Ireland and by contract manufacturers in the United States. President Donald Trump has complained about Ireland acting as a low-cost drug factory center and tax haven at the expense of U.S. workers and tax collections. The new Merck complex in Wilmington will be a 'cornerstone of our biotech future,' chief executive Robert W. Davis said at a groundbreaking Tuesday on the former DuPont Co. chemical and office campus. It will be 'the future U.S. home for producing Keytruda for U.S. patients.' Though manufacturing will be automated with robotics and artificial intelligence software, Davis said Merck would create 500 new jobs in advanced manufacturing and research and development at the site by the time construction is complete in five years and potentially thousands more drug development jobs long-term. 'This is a significantly new era in drug development,' said Sanat Chattopadhyay, president of the company's manufacturing division. Producing bio-based and complex therapies in the United States for the U.S. market 'means we will be able to speed access to patients much faster.' Merck officials said the site was chosen over rival locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and other states where Merck has facilities. Delaware officials earlier this year approved grants of up to $30 million for the project to help attract Merck. The company is among the larger employers in the Philadelphia area, with around 14,700 staff spread across its Upper Gwynedd Township offices, West Point manufacturing plants, and Spring House research labs, all in Montgomery County, and other area sites. Merck plans to complete labs at the former DuPont Co. Chestnut Run research and production site at 984 Centre Rd. in Wilmington by 2028 and add manufacturing and offices by 2030. Delaware's gain isn't Pennsylvania's loss, said Mike Wojewodka, president of developer MRA Group, which has also built biotech centers at former industrial sites in Philadelphia and Montgomery County. He said both states are among those competing for biotech facilities, and both benefit from large regional employers expanding, no matter where the facilities are. Speaking at the groundbreaking, both Gov. Matt Meyer and New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry smilingly urged employees from Merck's Rahway, N.J., headquarters to move their homes to Delaware, which has fewer layers of municipal government and strong state funding for public schools that keep property taxes lower than in the Garden State. Merck will deploy robots, artificial intelligence software, and other new technologies at the Wilmington location. Among its goals: to develop subcutaneous drug delivery (injection directly into fatty tissue below the skin) for Keytruda, produce antibody-drug conjugates that combine biological disease-fighting cells with chemotherapy drugs, and streamline production to speed new products to patients faster than older plants, Chattopadhyay said. MRA, with initial funding from Fulton Bank, bought the former DuPont complex for $40 million in 2021 as DuPont CEO Edward Breen sold and spun off a series of business units. At its peak in the 1970s, DuPont and its chemical and materials businesses employed more than 30,000 Delaware residents and dominated the state economically. It currently employs around 2,500. The developer has leveled old buildings and is overseeing pollution remediation at the site. The new Merck factory is under construction alongside a rising Marriott Residence Inn, and a childcare center for workers' families, among other amenities. Other tenants at the complex include DuPont, chemical maker Celanese, which operates a former DuPont business, and Delaware-based biotech companies Solenis and Prelude. Prelude is a spinoff of another Delaware-based biotech company, publicly traded, Wilmington-based Incyte, the largest drug company founded in the Philadelphia area since the 1990s. The new plant is underway at a time when Philadelphia area biotech and bio manufacturing development has slumped following an investment boom in the late 2010s. MRA's other biotech projects include sites in Spring House, near Merck's labs; University City near the University of Pennsylvania and Veterans' Administration hospitals; and at Pennovation, Penn's engineering and business center at the former DuPont paint factory in South Philadelphia. Merck in March told workers that it plans to close one of its smaller Pennsylvania facilities this summer — the Cherokee plant in Northumberland County, idling 163 workers. ___ © 2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
D2 Capital Advisors secures $23.5m for Residence Inn in Wilmington
D2 Capital Advisors has arranged $23.5m in construction financing for a new Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in Chestnut Run Innovation & Science Park (CRISP) in Wilmington, Delaware, US. The extended stay hotel is a project by CRISP Hotel Partners, a collaboration between MRA Group and Gulph Creek Hotels. The hotel will occupy 90,000ft² of space and will have 127 keys. The financing for this development was arranged by D2 Capital Advisors' team members Jack Cortese, David Frankel, and John Lightcap. WSFS Bank and Nuveen Green Capital are providing the financial backing for the project. MRA Group executive vice president & partner Phil Butler said: "D2's hotel financing experience and creativity in structuring the capital stack were extremely valuable to us throughout the financing process. "Their team's flexibility, determination, and understanding of our objectives were significant drivers in D2's ability to structure the financing in this complex lending environment." The upcoming hotel will be situated in the Greenville suburb of Wilmington adjacent to a community of corporations, including DuPont and Corteva's global headquarters. It aims to serve various businesses within CRISP, such as Prelude Therapeutics, Solenis, and Celanese, while also drawing leisure visitors to the Brandywine Valley. In December 2021, MRA Group acquired the property and initiated the phased redevelopment of the CRISP campus, which is expected to exceed 1.3 million ft². The company has transformed CRISP into the centre for scientific innovation and advanced production. The funding structure includes senior bank debt, C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy), subordinate D-PACE (Delaware PACE), and partner equity contributions. Construction is anticipated to start in January 2025, with an expected completion date in Summer 2026. IMC Construction has been appointed as the construction manager for this endeavour. D2 Capital Advisors vice president Jack Cortese said: "Having a strong established sponsor in MRA Group and Gulph Creek Hotels with experience and a track record of success was fundamental in securing hotel construction financing. "Still, the multilayered capital stack presented hurdles that we, the sponsor, and the lenders, were collectively able to overcome and deliver a cost efficient and flexible financing solution." "D2 Capital Advisors secures $23.5m for Residence Inn in Wilmington " was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
