Expansion of Bioscience Park Would Create Nearly 800 New Jobs

Both houses of the New York State Legislature have passed a bill to expand the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park at Farmingdale State College.

If approved by the governor, the expansion is expected to create 787 new jobs.

Farmingdale will construct a new building for the Bioscience Park as part of the bill, allowing OSI Pharmaceuticals, the park’s main business, to move into a 43,000 square-foot building completed in 2008.

"The new building will house innovative start-up companies with the potential to significantly increase the region’s ability to grow and attract high-tech jobs,” Assemblyman Jim Conte, R-Huntington Station, said in a statement. “The expansion of the tech park will put Long Island in a stronger position from which to compete in the 21st century global economy.”

Conte called the bill “a real success for the local economy.”

The bill will exempt the Bioscience Park from state procurement and construction laws, which Conte said would allow the facility to grow more easily and attract innovative companies.

Approximately 30 of those new jobs will be with OSI in the next two-to-three years, according to Jenny Keeney, an associate manager in communications at Astellas US, OSI’s parent company. Astellas acquired OSI in June 2010, making OSI the center of its small molecule research center.

“The move to the bigger building will allow OSI an opportunity to expand as well as continued focus on our research and development,” Keeney said.

Keeney added that the expansion will help the company further its studies in small molecule oncology to fight cancer.

OSI created Tarceva, an orally taken daily pill used to against advanced pancreatic cancer, and has had a partnership with Farmingdale State since 2002. OSI is also currently working on a drug for ovarian cancer as well as products for diabetes and obesity.

Conte said that though businesses and the government are often seen as being at odds with each other, the bill is an example of the positive results that can come from cooperation.

“I am hopeful that by fostering more of these positive relationships lawmakers can continue to strengthen and diversify Long Island’s economy," he said, "and, more importantly, create private-sector jobs.”