BioVectra opens $4-million warehouse
Charlottetown company opens its new 21,000 square-foot warehouse
BioVectra’s new $4-million, 21,000 square-foot warehouse is a sign that the company is developing in a positive way and needs the space as it grows its business, according to the company’s president Oliver Technow.
“A warehouse is always a representation of your business. So, this means that we will be able to continue to grow. This means that we will be able to continue to serve our clients, really, on a high-end, top-notch logistical chain,” he said on Thursday at the facility’s official opening in Charlottetown on Airport Drive.
“And, it gives us the confidence that, while we grow our business and continue to embark new endeavours and more investments, that we will have the space to serve clients and the business processes perfectly. So, that’s what it really means.”
BioVectra’s role is to develop intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
The company also announced the opening of its new process development suites at a cost of $2 million.
The company has four sites – three in Charlottetown and one in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Since 2015, the company has invested $60 million in expansions and upgrades in Atlantic Canada, Technow said. About three hundred employees work at these facilities.
Andrew Casey, president and CEO of BioTech Canada, attended Thursday’s announcement.
He noted that biotechnology doesn’t have to happen in a large city.
“This can be developed anywhere. So, if you think about what the keys are to development, you need talent and you need investment. Those are the two big driving forces.”
Casey added that this poses a problem when talent and investment are not present.
“In this industry, if you have a fundamentally good idea, it can be developed anywhere in the world. You can do clinical trials from anywhere in the world. So, if we’re not attracting investment and talent, the industry can pack up and move to where the investment and talent is. And, that’s our big challenge,” he said.
“Clearly, P.E.I. punches well above its weight that way. It’s attracting the talent and the investment.”