Press Releases

2007 Facility of the Year Awards Category Winners Announced

Five pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities located in China, Germany, Japan, and the United States have been selected as Category Winners in the third annual Facility of the Year Awards competition sponsored by ISPE, INTERPHEX, and Pharmaceutical Processing magazine. New enhancements to this year’s awards program include naming winners in five specific categories. The companies and respective award categories include:

  • Cook Pharmica, LLC, located in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, selected as winner of the Facility of the Year Award for Facility Integration
  • Genentech located in Oceanside, California, USA, selected as winner of the Facility of the Year Award for Project Execution
  • Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., located in Shanghai, China, selected as winner of the Facility of the Year Award for Project Execution Regional Excellence
  • Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co., Ltd., located in Takayama City, Japan, selected as winner of the Facility of the Year Award for Equipment Innovation
  • Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG located in Ravensburg, Germany, selected as winner of the Facility of the Year Award for Process Innovation

The Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) competition recognizes state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing projects that utilize new and innovative technologies to enhance the delivery of a quality project, as well as reduce the cost of producing highquality medicines. Now in its third year, the Awards program effectively spotlights the accomplishments, shared commitment, and dedication of individuals in companies worldwide to innovate and advance pharmaceutical manufacturing technology for the benefit of all global consumers.

"There is something truly remarkable and innovative about every single submission," said Scott Ludlum, ISPE's Director of Business Initiatives. "The five Category Winners hail from four different countries. This diversity demonstrates that the Awards program is a true reflection of the global nature of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry," said Ludlum.

Each of the submissions was reviewed by an independent, blue-ribbon judging panel of global representatives from the pharmaceutical design, construction, and manufacturing sectors.

"The addition of Category Winners to the 2007 Awards program significantly improved the competition and effectively enabled the judges to properly acknowledge those facilities that stood out and deserve special recognition," stated Andy Skibo, 2007 Judging Panel Chair, and Vice President Corporate Engineering and Capital Projects for Amgen. Those Category Winners are:

Facility of the Year Award Winner in Project Execution: Genentech

Genentech’s Oceanside Product Operations (NIMO) project is located in Oceanside, California, USA. Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes biotherapeutics for significant unmet medical needs. Upon U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensure, which is expected in the first half of 2007, the facility will have 90,000 liters of capacity for the production of Avastin® (bevacizumab), a therapeutic antibody for the treatment of various forms of cancer. The six-building, 500,000-square-foot, master-planned campus features manufacturing, laboratory/office space, a warehouse, central utilities, and a "spine" inter-connecting space. The Oceanside Product Operations facility currently employs approximately 580 people.

A team consisting of the owner, engineering company, architect, and general contractor was formed and developed an innovative project delivery approach that is best described as "Design-Build Hybrid." Civil, architectural, and structural work were executed design-bid-build, and mechanical, electrical, process, and instrumentation and controls (I&C) were completed design-build under the management of the general contractor. In order to achieve consistency in project standards and quality, the owner, architect and general contractor all unanimously selected an engineering company to oversee all engineering performed by the design-build subcontractors in the mechanical, electrical, process, and I&C engineering disciplines. Largely due to this Design-Build Hybrid approach and people -oriented execution focus, the team delivered the base project on time and under budget.

Architect/Designer: Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, San Diego, California, USA
Engineering: Clark, Richardson & Biskup Consulting Engineers, Inc., Carlsbad, California, USA
General Contractor: DPR Construction, Inc., San Diego, California, USA

Facility of the Year Activities in 2007 include:

There will be several opportunities to meet the 2007 Facility of the Year Award Winners and learn first-hand about the facilities being honored as "best in their class." These events include:

INTERPHEX2007 – Meet the Category Award Winners at the Facility of the Year Exhibit located in Hall 3D, Upper Level, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. This is the opportunity to meet personally with representatives from companies of the Category Winners to discuss the success stories associated with these pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. To register, or for more information, visit http://www.interphex.com.

ISPE Facilities Summit – Learn about case studies from 2007 Category Award winners during ISPE’s Facilities Summit taking place in Arlington, Virginia, from 4-7 June 2007. To register, or for more information, visit http://www.ispe.org.

ISPE Annual Meeting – Learn first hand who the Overall Winner of the coveted 2007 Facility of the Year Award is during ISPE’s 2007 Annual Meeting taking place at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, from 4-7 November. For more information, visit http://www.ispe.org.
At each event, a Facility of the Year Awards display will feature 2007 Category Award Winners.

Additionally, comprehensive coverage and publicity initiatives will be conducted by ISPE and Pharmaceutical Engineering, INTERPHEX, and Pharmaceutical Processing.