Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is providing engineering, procurement, and construction management services for Roche’s manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado. The facility has been selected to manufacture future commercial supplies of the investigational anti-HIV compound, T-20, which is being developed through a collaboration between Roche and Trimeris Inc. Roche and Trimeris recently announced that T-20 has entered phase III clinical trials. One pivotal study has been initiated in North, Central, and South America; a second in Europe and Australia. Jacobs’s role in the project is to provide full-service design and construction to assure that Roche and Trimeris are able to produce the peptide quantities required to meet market needs. “We are proud to be part of this important advancement into a new class of pharmaceuticals,” said Jacobs Group Vice President George Kunberger. “Jacobs is a recognised leader in pharmaceutical manufacturing design and will apply our knowledge and experience to this exciting project.” “We have committed substantial financial and technical resources, so that we can start scaling up to produce this peptide in metric tons rather than kilograms,” said Dr Eric Lodewijk, Roche Colorado President and Site Manager.
