Biotech in Frederick

There’s a front page feature today about how Frederick is banking on the future of Biotech in the county.

Since I work in Biotech, I am certainly in favor of the press and I think they are on the mark. We have dozens of smaller biotech operations, as well as some of the biggest and most profitable biotech in the area.

Frederick is a main facility for Invitrogen, who at one time employed over 400 people and the word is that they intend to surpass that eventually as they’re resurrecting the Distribution facility. They are located just south of the Westview mall. You should check out their web site, because they have 62 open positions posted in Science, Sales and Marketing, IT and Distribution. MedImmune has announced a major expansion on Solarex court and has more job openings than I can count. Dynport is a major player off TJ, although they don’t have any manufacturing capabilitiies. Cambrex in Walkersville has 26 openings posted, despite the rumors that they’re about to be acquired by two Indian companies who appear to be in a bidding war.

There has been surprisingly little new news about the massive expansion at Fort Detrick. I don’t understand why the headline wasn’t reiterating the fact that the Feds are going to pour another 2 billion dollars and create more than 2,500 jobs there in the not too distant future. This kind of investment will certainly spawn a number of start-ups, so the major impact might still be 15-20 years away.

Makes me glad I moved to Maryland to use my Bio degree.