The Illinois Science + Technology Park is the old campus for Searle's R&D center, and it's where I worked when I came to Chicago. The site has been revamped (including tearing out the buildings where I worked), and is now a technology park for smaller technology companies to get a jump start.
Based on their press releases, the following companies have signed leases
- Evanston Northwestern Healthcare's data center (hospital system)
- NanoInk
- NanoBusiness Alliance
The site and Searle has a great history of research and some other characters.
- Discovered and developed Aspartame (Nutrasweet) in 1965
- First oral contraceptive pill (Enovid) in the 1950's
- The company was presided over by Donald Rumsfeld (yes, that Rumsfeld) during the 1970's and early 1980's.
- Development of Celebrex, the Cox II non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain reliever in the 1990's (discovered in St. Louis)
- Developed Metamucil in the 1930's (now a P&G product). According to the internal grapevine, it was made in Skokie at that time.
Searle was an independent company until 1985, when it was acquired by Monsanto. In 2000 Monsanto merged with Pharmacia & UpJohn to become Pharmacia with a hope to become a major food-ag-pharma powerhouse. In 2003, Pfizer purchased Pharmacia and decided to close the Skokie location. (And Monsanto became it's own company again, focusing on agricultural biotechnology.)