Pfizer opens new research facility in Chesterfield
Suburban Journals
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
By Mary Shapiro
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Chesterfield Mayor John Nations were among dozens on April 9 who celebrated the opening of a nearly $200 million research building on the Pfizer Global Research and Development campus in Chesterfield.
The four-story, 330,000-square-foot building, at 700 Chesterfield Parkway West, will house "state-of-the-art equipment, cutting-edge laboratories and 1,000 of the leading minds in pharmaceutical research," Nixon said.
Researchers at the facility will study medical challenges and develop treatments and cures that will enhance the quality of life for generations to come, Nixon said.
The facility will be "an epicenter for scientific discoveries that will ripple across our state, throughout our country and around the world," he said.
Nations praised Pfizer and said the company is investing its future in Chesterfield.
"This facility will attract the finest jobs and people from anywhere across the globe and is invaluable to the Chesterfield community," Nations said.
Don Frail, site director for Pfizer's St. Louis research site and chief scientific officer of one of the research units, said the new building is part of a nearly $350 million Pfizer investment in Missouri since 2003.
Pfizer employs about 1,000 scientists in the St. Louis area who have been split between Chesterfield, Creve Coeur and St. Louis sites. With the new building, they will work on the same campus and focus on developing medicines of the future, Frail said.
The new facility will foster innovation, he added.
"Through this building, we are providing our researchers with every advantage to be more successful and efficient in bringing new medicines to patients," Frail said.
"This building represents Pfizer's commitment to this region and our state," he said. "Not only do we work here, but we live here and we are involved in the community with our friends, families and neighbors."
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said the new facility will give a strong boost to the local economy.
"This is a great place to do business, and we've gotten great support from government officials," said Jeffrey Kindler, Pfizer chairman and CEO.
"We celebrate the opening of a place that will make the discoveries of future treatments and cures possible."
