LI's Biotech Ambitions Suffer Setback

MELVILLE, NY-Long Island’s largest biotechnology company is leaving for Westchester County, in what some are calling a setback for the island’s ambitions to develop a biotech corridor. Locally based OSI Pharmaceuticals said late Tuesday afternoon that it had signed a $27-million agreement to acquire a 43-acre site in Ardsley, NY with 400,000 square feet of existing office and laboratory space. It will consolidate in lower Westchester County from its operations in Melville and nearby Farmingdale as well as locations in Cedar Knolls, NJ and Boulder, CO, starting later this year.

“The past 10 years has been a remarkable journey as the company has successfully brought its first oncology product, Tarceva, to market and taken the business profitable,” says OSI CEO Colin Goddard in a release. However, he adds, “we will only truly capture the full strategic value of our oncology franchise if we simplify our business by bringing together all the elements of our US operations onto a single site.”

According to published reports, OSI sought to expand at the Broadhollow Bioscience Park on the campus of Farmingdale State University, but ran into roadblocks with approvals to build on state-owned land. In a release, Goddard says the company considered options in “multiple states” before deciding to join the growing life sciences sector in Westchester. An OSI spokeswoman did not respond to GlobeSt.com inquiries by deadline.