B I O S C I E N C E
Serving The World
Life sciences investments in Kansas serve global animal and human health needs.
W The new Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in Lenexa, Kansas, enabled production to scale from 50,000 viral transport media tubes to more than 8 million per week. Photos courtesy of Thermo Fisher
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hen my colleague Ron Starner documented the “electric atmosphere” of McPherson, Kansas, in Site Selection magazine in November 2017, among the projects lighting up the grid was a $120 million expansion by Pfizer that would create 150 new manufacturing jobs at a former Hospira plant. Turns out that was the under. After being chosen in August 2020 to manufacture Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir to fight COVID-19, the plant then was conscripted in early 2021 to use its fill-finish line to produce vials for Pfizer to manufacture more of its COVID-19 vaccines as the company looked to roughly double the weekly number of vaccines it was manufacturing. It’s one of around a dozen major life sciences-related projects that have landed in Kansas over the past few years. Merck Animal Health’s $100 million investment in a livestock vaccine production facility in the Johnson County municipality of DeSoto was another. Meanwhile, boutique contract research organization Attentive Science is investing $6 million and creating more than 40 jobs
KANSAS: TO THE STARS
by A D A M B R U N S
at another Johnson County site in Stilwell. Convey Health Solutions, Pharmaceutical Research Associates and Thermo-Fisher Scientific are all investing in Lenexa. Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) TriRx Pharmaceutical Services is investing $70 million and creating 250 jobs in Shawnee and prescription management software firm Rx Savings is growing in Overland Park — all communities that are also in Johnson County, a suburb of Kansas City. The TriRX project comes on the heels of the company’s August 2021 acquisition of Elanco Animal Health’s facility as the two companies entered into a long-term supply agreement for the site, which employs around 300 staff. “TriRx will transition the Elanco Center of Manufacturing Excellence to a Global Center of Excellence serving the pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing market,” said Timothy C. Tyson, chairman & CEO of TriRx. “TriRx has already received significant third-party interest in the Shawnee facility as a reliable source of contract manufacturing supply. We expect to invest in the facility and to expand the workforce as we bring in new business as part of our strategic plan. There are world-class people and capabilities at this site.” Nine days later, Tyson joined Kansas Lieutenant Governor and Commerce Secretary David Toland, federal and state legislators, local elected officials and leaders from The University of Kansas, Kansas State University, and key customers at a ribboncutting ceremony. “Investment in the Shawnee facility and the highly skilled people critical to its operation are key components of our strategic plan,” Tyson added. “We see much opportunity ahead as TriRx continues to strengthen its position as a leading contract development and manufacturing organization active in both the
