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Plans announced for private-sector KC Animal Health Corridor project By Jason Gertzen A major vaccine maker's planned $150 million expansion is the largest private-sector Kansas City Animal Health Corridor project since the initiative launched in 2006. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica said Tuesday it would hire more than 120 workers over the next five years as it added to its existing manufacturing and research facilities in the St. Joseph area. The business, which is an arm of Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical company, specializes in making products such as vaccines for cattle and swine. "We have a long and successful history in St. Joseph and are committed to growing our business in this community," Gorge Heidgerken, Boehringer Ingelheim's president, said in a statement. With dozens of companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, the Kansas City region is home to the greatest concentration of companies making vaccines, medicine and other products for livestock and pets. The businesses there account for more than one-third of the nearly $17 billion global animal health market. "This large of an expansion will have a ripple effect on the corridor," said Lynn Parman, vice president of life sciences and technology for the Kansas City Area Development Council. In addition to the jobs that Boehringer Ingelheim will add to its current work force of more than 600 employees, the expansion is likely to offer growth prospects for many of the animal health industry service companies in the region, Parman said. The announcement comes just weeks after federal officials said they would build a new $650 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kan. Hundreds of scientists there will work to develop new methods of detecting and countering potentially devastating diseases for the nation's livestock industry. One goal is to pass along technology that companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim could use to produce new vaccines. "In terms of capital investment, other than the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, this marks the largest expansion by an animal health company that we have seen," Parman said. Fort Dodge Animal Health, which is run from an Overland Park headquarters, had announced a $40 million research expansion project for Olathe. The company, however, recently scuttled those plans, at least for now. Boehringer Ingelheim representatives said they would expand their manufacturing space, increase research and development in St. Joseph, and establish a central administration site with this project. The company did not indicate when the project would begin, and executives did not return messages seeing additional comment. |
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