Biotech firms at forefront of discoveries

Bioscience companies have a long history in the Boulder area, and local researchers, companies and academic institutions are determined to ensure the industry has a prosperous future.

The roster of bioscience companies based in the Boulder Valley or with facilities here is extensive, and includes major international pharmaceutical manufacturers Amgen Inc. and Sandoz Inc.

Amgen is based in Thousand Oaks, California, but its local ties run deep. University of Colorado professor Marvin Caruthers was a member of Amgen’s first scientific advisory board, and helped establish the company’s local research and development center in the early 1980s. Research led by Caruthers helped create the drugs that would turn Amgen into a company capable of posting $15.6 billion in revenue in 2011.

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Amgen has facilities in Longmont and Boulder, and about 725 of the company’s 17,000 employees work at the two facilities. They are key manufacturing and research centers for the company, producing treatments for several conditions, including chemotherapy side effects, anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease and osteoarthritis.

Boulder is home to Corden Pharma Colorado, a subsidiary of Corden Pharma Group. The German company is a contract manufacturer for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and its Boulder facility conducts research, development and manufacturing.

Corden Pharma acquired its Boulder facility in 2011, when it purchased Boulder-based Roche Colorado Corp., which was a subsidiary of Switzerland-based F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG. Corden Pharma Colorado employs about 200 people locally.

Big drug companies also have a big presence in Broomfield, where Sandoz has about 600 employees. Sandoz is a developer and manufacturer of specialty generic pharmaceuticals. It is a subsidiary of Novartis AG, a drug manufacturer headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

Sandoz’s 637,000-square-foot Broomfield campus develops products and makes drugs that can be consumed orally. According to Sandoz, it is the largest solid-dose manufacturing facility in the world, with the capability of producing 10 billion units annually.

Big biotech and pharmaceutical companies are not alone in the Boulder Valley. In the past decade, the area has seen a number of startups launch and evolve into thriving companies.

Clovis Oncology Inc. is one example. Clovis acquires, develops and commercializes anti-cancer agents, and the Boulder-based company went public in 2011, only two years after its founding. Clovis raised $130 million in its initial public offering and has 57 full-time employees.

The Boulder Valley also remains a strong center for academic research. In 2012, the University of Colorado-Boulder opened the Biofrontiers Institute, a research center led by Nobel Prize-winning professor Tom Cech. The institute’s goal is to encourage researchers in different disciplines to collaborate. It also will share ideas and research facilities with local firms.

The institute is in the new Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building, a 336,800-square-foot research and teaching facility on CU-Boulder’s East Campus. More than more than 60 faculty and 500 researchers and staff are housed in the building.