The concentration of animal health companies in the region’s Animal Health Corridor stands to win if Manhattan is chosen as the site for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
A new 520,000-square-foot, $450 million facility with an annual operating budget of $125 million is up for grabs. And not only will it create jobs (it is planned to house 250 to 350 employees), boost the local economy and heighten the area’s already established animal health profile, but it also would be a boost to local companies that might be able to help commercialize the drugs created at the site.
“If it is just about research, it is a failure,” said Tom Thornton, CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority. “It should have a strong link to companies that could be commercializing that research. And smart companies will figure out how to work with NBAF.”
Currently under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, research into foreign animal and animal-to-human diseases is performed at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York.
The site for an upgraded facility is scheduled to be announced in October. Kansas State University’s campus in Manhattan is among six sites under consideration.
Commercialization of the vaccines that could come out of the facility is important but is not considered in site selection, said Jamie Johnson, director of office and national labs for Homeland Security. But once a site is chosen, local companies often become involved in commercialization, and it is welcome by the facility, he said.
The main criterion for site selection is the ability to “leverage human capital in a surrounding area,” Johnson said, and one of the strengths of the Manhattan site is its proximity to people and support for the facility’s research.
Part of the Animal Health Corridor, the K-State campus is near more than 125 animal health companies that employ more than 13,000 workers and account for about 34 percent of sales in the $16.8 billion global animal health market, according to the Kansas City Area Development Corp.
Many of these local animal health companies perform research and sell products in the “sweet spot” of NBAF’s research, which is vaccines, Thornton said.
And having a facility like NBAF close to home would be a distinct advantage for local companies, said Dr. Steve Chu, executive vice president for research and development at Fort Dodge Animal Health.
“You can always have a product developed for a disease, but the question is how fast you can do it,” he said. “And if you have people spread out across the country, you have to have communication via e-mail. If they are located close to each other, it forces a relationship on a regular basis, which is helpful.”
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