The Fremont, CA-based biotech company plans to produce therapeutic antibodies at the facility for commercial sale within three years. The facility will produce antibodies culled from mice cells, programmed through genetic engineering to act like human antibodies, made into a solution and injected into the human body to fight disease. The company now employs 180 at its Plymouth, MN, facility, and will add more than 100 more in the next two years.

Protein Design Labs chose Minnesota because it has had operations in Plymouth for 12 years and has developed an experienced, qualified workforce. Brooklyn Park was able to offer a site that was near its operations in Plymouth, large enough for the new facility and offered expansion space and efficient municipal services, the company says.

Major players in building the facility were McGough Construction of Minneapolis, the major construction company on the project; Fluor Corp. of Greenville, SC, the architect and engineering firm; Harris Mechanical, the contractor for the piping and plumbing; ERC, the electrical contractor; General Sheet Metal, the sheet metal contractor; and Modern Piping of Cedar Rapids, IA, the "high purity sanitary tubing contractor."