California Construction News staff writer
Amgen has broken ground on a new $600-million research and innovation centre at its global headquarters in Thousand Oaks, launching a major expansion to support the development of new biologic medicines.
Executives joined local government and community leaders for the ceremony marking the start of construction on the state-of-the-art facility, which will integrate research, engineering and process development teams. The company says the project will strengthen collaboration across disciplines and speed the path from discovery to manufacturing.
Construction partners for the project have not been publicly disclosed.
“Today’s groundbreaking is a marker of what comes next in our mission to serve patients,” said Amgen CEO Bob Bradway. “We discover here, we manufacture here, we deliver for patients from Thousand Oaks to all around the world.”
Amgen announced the investment in September, part of a broader capital program that includes recent commitments in North Carolina, Ohio and Puerto Rico. Since 2017, the biotechnology manufacturer has invested more than $40 billion in U.S. R&D and manufacturing, including nearly $5 billion in domestic capital projects.
“As a global leader in biotech, Amgen could locate anywhere on the planet, but it chose Thousand Oaks,” said Thousand Oaks Mayor David Newman. “This is the kind of high-value, innovation-driven investment that defines our city’s economic future.”
The building will be designed to support advanced automation and digital lab capabilities, and is targeting LEED Gold certification. Amgen executives say the facility will be the most sustainable building on the company’s campus once complete.
Jay Bradner, Amgen’s executive vice-president of R&D, said the centre will bring chemists, biologists, clinicians and manufacturing specialists together under one roof to “reimagine solutions to some of the toughest diseases.”
The company has not yet disclosed a construction timeline.
