Thursday, April 14, 2011

Organogenesis adds a fourth building to its Canton campus

By Jon Chesto

Three buildings weren’t enough to house CEO Geoff MacKay’s growing ambitions for Organogenesis. So the company purchased a fourth building in February for $3 million to add to its campus on Dan Road in Canton.

“We’re growing a little bit faster than anticipated,” MacKay said. “It really feels as though we’re firing on all cylinders.”
 
The new building purchase was unveiled as the company begins work on what it bills as the world’s largest automated skin cell manufacturing plant.
 
Company and state officials swung a sledgehammer Wednesday morning in the destruction of the ceremonial last wall as part of the gutting of the building at 275 Dan Road that will be converted to the new tissue factory by sometime in 2013.
 
The company estimates that its investment in this expansion in Canton will total nearly $65 million. The company received a $7.4 million state grant to help fund the expansion, and is eligible for up to $5.5 million in tax incentives, including about $700,000 that it has received so far, according to a spokeswoman.
 
The company cleared $100 million in revenues for the first time in 2010, almost entirely on the sales of its high-tech skin-patch known as Apligraf. The product helps heal chronic wounds, including those caused by diabetic ulcers and venous ulcers. Organogenesis has also sought Food and Drug Administration approval to sell CelTx, a living-cell-based treatment that would be marketed to dentists to help regenerate gum tissue.
 
MacKay said the company employs about 470 people, including about 260 in Canton. The remaining workers are primarily sales representatives who work out-of-state, he said.
With the acquisition of the fourth building, the company now occupies 330,000 square feet on Dan Road in an industrial park off Route 138.
 
Interior construction starts this month at 275 Dan Road, a 95,000-square-foot building that will be home to the high-tech manufacturing plant. Work will likely be done next year, but the plant will still need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before Apligraf and other products can be made for sale to the public there.
 
The corporate headquarters recently relocated to a renovated 78,000-square-foot building at 85 Dan Road.
 
The former headquarters building at 150 Dan Road, roughly 79,000 square feet in size, is currently used for manufacturing and research and development.
 
The newest addition to the campus, a 78,000-square-foot warehouse at 65 Dan Road, will be used for storage at the start and eventually will accommodate future growth by providing overflow space for administrative and research offices.
 
The existing plant at 150 Dan Road is already one of the few commercial-scale skin-cell factories in the world.
 
“We’re the big fish in the small pond at the moment,” MacKay said of Organogenesis, which was started in 1992. “There are hundreds of regenerative cell companies, but most of them are at an earlier stage in development.”
 

Jon Chesto may be reached at [email protected].