In the largest economic development investment of Governor Laura Kelly’s administration, Scorpion Biological Services will build a new 500,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility in Kansas. Within the next seven years, the company — a subsidiary of Heat Biologics, Inc. — will invest $650 million in the project and create 500 new jobs in Manhattan, KS.
“Kansas is the center of the country, with quick access to either coast, a strong workforce, and a growing economy — so there’s no better state for Scorpion to locate to address potential threats to public health,” commented Gov. Kelly. “Scorpion’s selection of locating this facility in the state reinforces what many have come to learn – Kansas is open for business.”
The facility will support the development of vaccines that enable an accelerated response to global biological threats. In addition, Scorpion Biological Services intends to provide commercial level development, manufacturing, and bioanalytical testing services at every stage for biopharmaceutical products on a fee-for-service basis to the global health care industry.
The combination of a world-class public research university, innovative private sector partners, critical national security and the the skill and strength of the Kansas workforce led Scorpion to choose Manhattan for its new facility.
“Today, we are very proud to unveil our newest biomanufacturing facility in Manhattan, Kansas,” said Jeff Wolf, CEO of Heat. “With a model that starts with discovery at our Skunkworx subsidiary in North Brunswick, New Jersey and ends with commercial scale manufacturing here in Manhattan, this facility represents the next stage in our evolution, enabling us to combine speed and agility with the full-integration of discovery, development and manufacturing.”
“We are very excited to break ground on this new facility,” added David Halverson, president of Heat’s Scorpion subsidiary. “There is a strong demand for world-class biomanufacturing, which we expect to continue well into the future. We intend to help fill that demand with our newest facility in Manhattan, Kansas. The 500,000-square-foot Manhattan facility is being designed to service up to 144,000 liters across 48 bioreactors. Powered by an excellent Kansas workforce, we’re looking forward to rapidly growing and expanding Scorpion, and Manhattan is the perfect location for our newest facility.”
The project is the result of partnerships between the Kansas Department of Commerce, Kansas State University, Kansas State University Innovation Partners, the City of Manhattan, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Pottawatomie County, Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation, Manhattan Area Technical College, Evergy, CRB and Realty Trust Group.
“We are showing again and again that we have what it takes to attract highly innovative and highly-technical businesses to Kansas,” said Lieutenant Governor and Commerce Secretary David Toland. “It’s absolutely critical that we, as a nation, increase our capacity for domestic production of these types of vaccines and we are extremely proud to see this work happening here in Kansas.”