Shovels hit dirt in Hamilton on October 8, as Tonix Pharmaceuticals kicked off construction of a new facility.
“The planned commercial scale facility has the potential to make a difference for fellow Americans and support the local Montana economy here in the Bitterroot,” CEO Seth Lederman told the crowd.
Lederman says their work focuses on diseases like lyme disease.
“Many of the new therapeutics and preventatives today are monoclonal antibodies, and we're developing some of them that we hope to manufacture here.”
Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, says Hamilton is a growing hub of bioscience research and industry.
“When Tonic saw the biotech industry blooming here, they felt like, hey, we can be a part of this.”
The National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories is nearby, and GSK Biologicals is just up the road. Lederman says the scientific community drew them in.
“It's also coming full circle because so much important work on Lyme disease was done here.”
Former Montana Sen. Max Baucus said the facility will have far-reaching impacts.
“When we do walk into the constructed building, think back on this day," Baucus said. "We broke ground and moving forward, putting Ravalli County, especially the biotech community here, on the map.”
Lederman says it’ll be another four to five years before products from this facility are available. He added that jobs will grow along with the operation, starting at about 25, but could eventually reach up to 200.
