PRESS RELEASES   Cytovance breaks ground 07/10/2004 The Oklahoman by Jim Stafford Business Writer About 100 people took a leisurely stroll to the west end of the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park Friday morning and watched a backhoe scoop up a small amount of earth. It was the first dirt moved on the site that will become the Cytovance Biologics Inc.'s biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant, a $16.8 million operation that will produce protein therapeutics and antibodies on a contract basis for biotech researchers and laboratories nationwide. It was a definite feel-good moment for Cytovance executives and all the parties involved in the yearlong contract negotiations that finally brought the moment to reality. "This is quite an auspicious milestone in the development of our company," said Cytovance President and Chief Executive Officer William J. Fallon, who spoke to a throng of economic development officials, attorneys and researchers from companies in the Research Park. Fallon and most of the Cytovance Biologics management team are well known in Oklahoma City. They were among the group that turned Oklahoma City-based Novazyme Pharmaceuticals from a startup venture to a thriving business that was sold for more than $200 million to Genzyme Therapeutics in 2001. "It's great to be back in Oklahoma City," Fallon said. "For the past year, we have worked very diligently with the city, the state, with the Redevelopment Authority and the Presbyterian Health Foundation to put together an economic development package that allows us to establish operations here in Oklahoma. So it's very gratifying to see that come to fruition." Cytovance will maintain its headquarters in Princeton, N.J., where Fallon and John F. Crowley, company chairman, are based. Kevin Ruddy, vice president of business operations, will relocate to Oklahoma City to manage the local operation, Fallon said. The Cytovance plant will be the first biopharmaceutical plant in Oklahoma. The company already has leased 11,000 square feet of office and lab space in the Research Park and hired eight people, three of them Ph.D.s, Crowley said. "It really will be the largest and most state-of-the-art facility in the United States the world really, focused on clinical stage manufacturing," he said. Crowley said the eight people Cytovance has hired will start Sept. 1. The company eventually will hire up to 50 people at an average annual salary of more than $50,000. "These are really specialized, high- tech jobs," he said. Fallon said that of the $16.8 million committed to the manufacturing plant, $6 million is available to Cytovance for use as operating capital. Almost $11 million will be used for the building and equipment, he said. "If it costs more than that, Cytovance will pay whatever the incremental difference is," he said. Michael Anderson, president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation, served as master of ceremonies for the groundbreaking event. In addition to Fallon and Crowley, the lineup of speakers included Carl Edwards, foundation chairman; Kathryn Taylor, secretary of commerce and tourism; Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett; Stanton L. Young, foundation chairman emeritus; David Lopez, president of Downtown OKC; David Rainbolt, chief executive officer of BancFirst; and Tom Seth Smith, president and chief executive officer of Durant-based Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma Inc. Among those who witnessed the event was Hershel Lamirand, executive director of the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation, which supports the nearby Oklahoma Health Center and the many research-based operations there. "If this works, this puts us on the map," he said. "It creates the critical mass we need here in Oklahoma City."