Gilead Alberta, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, has opened the first of two new laboratory buildings at its Edmonton, Canada campus, and announced an additional $100 million investment to further expand and upgrade the site as the biopharmaceutical company broadens its pipeline of treatments in areas of unmet medical need.

Gilead Alberta's two new laboratory buildings will allow for close to 170 additional scientists in Edmonton and enable Gilead Alberta to expand to support the development and manufacturing of investigational drugs, supply active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for clinical research programs and contribute to new product launch supplies in the areas of hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV/AIDS and oncology. A second laboratory building is under construction and set for completion in the spring of 2016.

The additional $100 million investment at the campus will include the construction of a new process tower for the additional manufacturing of API, a maintenance facility and upgrades to the existing site. The process tower will expand the capabilities of the operations in Edmonton to allow for the handling of more potent compounds.

Edmonton is home to Gilead's largest operation in Canada, with more than 300 employees. In 2014, Gilead invested more than $100 million in R&D in Canada, almost half of that in Alberta.

In Alberta, Gilead initiatives support the province's advanced education system and not-for-profit sector such as the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology's (NAIT) Chemical Technology program, the Industrial Internship Program at the University of Alberta and the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences at the University of Alberta. Gilead staff also support and volunteer with many local programs across Edmonton, including the CapitalCare Foundation and the annual AIDS Walk for Life.