The Commonwealth Financing Authority provided Pocono Townshipwith a $5-million grant from its PennWorks program for sewerimprovements along the Route 611 corridor to serve the company'ssite on Discovery Drive. A Sanofi Pasteur spokeswoman tellsGlobeSt.com the cost of constructing the new facility is $150million. "The facility is now beginning the process of obtainingFDA licensing," she says.

The design phase of the retrofit has begun, and Sanofi Pasteurwill add approximately $25 million to the HHS grant. Once the newbuilding is licensed by the FDA and operational, the existingfacility will be phased out and decommissioned for the retrofit.The design, retrofit and maintenance of the facilities will placethem in a state of readiness so the company can switch to pandemicinfluenza vaccine manufacture at HHS's request.

The existing plant has produced approximately 50 million dosesof vaccine for the US market during the past several influenzaseasons. When both facilities here are validated, capacity will beapproximately triple current output. Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccinesdivision of the Sanofi-Aventis Group.