German drugmaker Bayer plans a $2.2 billion modular pharmaceutical campus in New Albany, Ohio, the company announced Oct. 2, adding another major advanced manufacturing project to a fast-growing manufacturing area northeast of Columbus.
The project is expected to generate around 1,500 construction jobs. The company plans to develop the facility in stages, with a pharmaceutical substance manufacturing module to be commissioned in 2031 and a second module for pharmaceuticals completed in 2034.
Plans call for about 200 acres and a breakthrough by mid-2027, Sebastian Guth, global chief operating officer of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and president of Bayer US, told Fierce Pharma in an Oct. 2 interview.
The company did not immediately respond to ENR’s request about a design or construction team, nor did it detail how much of the $2.2 billion investment covers construction versus process equipment and other costs.
First intensive process module
The planned campus would combine the manufacturing of pharmaceutical substances and finished pharmaceutical products and incorporate advanced digital and automation systems. The company says the campus will eventually employ about 600 workers.
Process equipment such as containers and modular skids illustrate the specialized systems involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Bayer’s first New Albany module will produce small molecule drugs.
Image courtesy of ISPE/Pharmaceutical Engineering
The first module will produce small molecule oncology, cardiovascular and kidney drugs, Guth said The Wall Street Journal. Bayer also operates a manufacturing facility in Berkeley, California, dedicated to biologic drugs, which are produced from living cells.
This distinction helps define the construction program. The International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering guidelines for small molecule chemical active pharmaceutical ingredient facilities say that design typically focuses on core process equipment, with utilities, solvent storage, emissions and waste handling among the systems to be addressed.
The Bayer project comes during a surge of development in the New Albany business park. “The actual pace of development right now, specifically in New Albany, is going faster than we ever thought it would,” Community Development Director Jennifer Chrysler said at a May 13 Sustainability Advisory Council meeting. He pointed to Amgen’s nearby pharmaceutical campus, which he said was touted as a 20-year build but is now expected to be completed in less than seven years.
Chrysler also said about 25,000 construction workers commute daily into the community, contributing to traffic, construction noise and light pollution.
Water, Waste water questions
New Albany said in its Oct. 2 announcement that two decades of planning have provided the business park with access to power, water and other infrastructure. The existing life sciences cluster includes Amgen, American Regent, Pharmavite and Hims & Hers.
Google’s New Albany data center is part of a wave of major industrial development that city officials say is unfolding faster than expected, increasing demands on local infrastructure as Bayer prepares its $2.2 billion pharmaceutical campus. Click to enlarge.
Photo by Snehit Photo/Adobe Stock
At the May advisory board meeting, Chrysler said New Albany buys Columbus water and wastewater service and uses real-time monitoring to track industrial consumption. He said the city also negotiates development agreements that set how much water individual sites can use.
Chrysler said existing pharmaceutical manufacturers in New Albany must treat some process water before returning it to the Columbus system, including water he described as too pure for direct discharge.
Bayer has not disclosed what, if any, additional utility or public infrastructure will be needed to serve the campus.
Work is also underway on the nearly $38 million Ohio Life Sciences Training Center Business Park, which is set to open in the summer of 2027. JobsOhio said it will invest up to $30 million in the center, with nearly $8 million coming from New Albany, the state and The New Albany Co. Bayer is expected to attract workers trained there as biomanufacturer operators and manufacturing technicians.
The Bayer project joins several multimillion-dollar construction programs around New Albany. ENR previously reported that Bechtel is leading the construction of Intel’s $28 billion semiconductor project and Turner Construction is general contractor for the $2 billion Vantage Data Centers campus.
JobsOhio says Bayer plans to apply for an Ohio Job Creation Tax Credit at a future meeting of the state’s Tax Credit Authority, as well as JobsOhio’s assistance. Details of the JobsOhio package are expected to be made public after a final deal is executed.
