Property, Plant and Equipment, Net

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

6. Property, Plant and Equipment, net

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following:


(in thousands)	September 30, 2015			December 31, 2014
Land	$	14,950		$	14,950
Buildings		68,858			67,571
Machinery, equipment and fixtures		63,343			65,179
Construction in progress		12,775			9,746
Accumulated depreciation		(67,533	)		(61,432	)

Property, plant and equipment, net	$	92,393		$	96,014

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, depreciation expense related to property, plant and equipment was $1.9 million and $9.6 million, respectively, as compared to $2.2 million and $6.5 million for the prior year comparative periods.

Included within machinery, equipment and fixtures are spare parts of approximately $2.4 million and $2.5 million at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. Spare parts include replacement parts relating to plant and equipment and are either recognized as an expense when consumed or re-classified and capitalized as part of the related plant and equipment and depreciated over a time period not exceeding the useful life of the related asset.

Fixed assets dedicated to research and development, or R&D, activities, which were impacted by the March 2013 R&D strategic shift, have a carrying value of $4.6 million as of September 30, 2015. The Company believes these fixed assets will be utilized for either internally funded ongoing R&D activities or R&D activities funded by a strategic partner. If the Company is not successful in finding a strategic partner and there are no alternative uses for these fixed assets, then they could be subject to impairment in the future.

Long-Lived Assets to Be Disposed of Other than by Sale

In November 2014, the Company announced its plans to decommission certain long-lived assets associated with its R&D operations in the United States. The Company expected the decommissioning to begin in the second half of 2015. As a result, the Company revised its estimates of the remaining useful lives of the affected long-lived assets to seven months.

During the second quarter of 2015, the Company halted its decommissioning plans until an indefinite date. As a result, the Company revised its estimates of the remaining useful lives of the affected long-lived assets back to its original remaining useful life effective April 1, 2015.

At September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the net book value of these assets totaled $4.4 million and $7.4 million, respectively.