Fluor Daniel in Biopharmaceuticals Market

Fluor Daniel said Thursday that it has won a $40-million contract in the large and growing biopharmaceuticals market.

Somatogen Inc., a biotechnology company based in Boulder, Colo., selected Fluor to build its first manufacturing plant for large-scale clinical trials of its synthetic hemoglobin product. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the synthetic blood would be an alternative for transfusions.

Somatogen said it hopes to break ground on a commercial production facility in the second half of 1993. That contract has not yet been awarded.

“What’s very exciting about this is it’s the first alternative therapy for blood transfusions,” said Deborah Land, a spokeswoman for Fluor. “The implications of the product are huge.”

All engineering, procurement and construction management services for the project, which will employ about 150 people, will be handled by Fluor Daniel’s Greenville, S.C., offices. Fluor Daniel is a unit of Irvine-based Fluor Corp.