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Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, a member of the Johnson & Johnson
family of companies, was formed in 1993 by the merger of Ortho
Pharmaceutical Corporation and McNeil Pharmaceutical. The company
currently manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products in several
therapeutic categories, including women's health, central nervous
system, infectious diseases and wound healing.
Currently, Ortho McNeil’s High Throughput Screening Lab
houses over two million compounds created and used by the entire
Johnson & Johnson Family of companies. The facility serves
as a manufacturing plant that “clones” these compounds
through a unique High Throughput Screening (HTS) process. It is
predicted that, within the next several years, this building will
hold up to six million different compounds.
When Ortho McNeil Pharmaceuticals wished to develop and construct
this 28,000 SF HTS facility at their Raritan, New Jersey Campus,
they chose the team at Syska Hennessy.
Because this was the first facility of its kind at Ortho-McNeil,
several factors complicated the design requirements. The HTS process
was to be housed within environmental chambers with low humidity
control. The remaining portion of the building consisted of QA/QC
laboratories for the purpose of testing the cloned compounds produced
in the screening lab. Special water and laboratory gases were required
for these laboratories. Pressurization of the spaces was also an
issue.
Before starting the design, Syska Hennessy worked closely with
the lead scientist, Dr. Wildly and representatives of the site
engineering and facilities group identifying the system needs.
Through this open communication, the team was able to start the
design with the end user in mind. In addition, the design team
worked closely with the manufacturer of the equipment produced
in England. The design team converted metric to English units with
a specific push for the manufacturer of 60-Hertz equipment versus
the European standard at 50 Hertz.
Within Syska Hennessy’s design, process dehumidification
systems consisting of steam heated desiccant dryers. Syska Hennessy’s
design of the supply and exhaust systems exceeded Ortho McNeil’s
standard requirements resulting in 25 air changes per hour thereby
eliminating odor migration to other areas of the building. Through
their design, Syska Hennessy was able to provide Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical
with a facility that met their needs and exceeded their expectations.
In response to Syska Hennessy service, Ortho McNeil has asked
the same exact team member to work on several other HTS projects.
Presently, Syska Hennessy Group is working on the design of a renovation
that will double the size of the Raritan facility. This forward
thinking approach will allow Ortho McNeil’s HTS capacity
to grow throughout the next several years.
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