Give Them Money to Build and They Will Come: Strong North Carolina Incentives Attract $500 Million in Current Pharmaceutical Facility Investments

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). As competition for new pharmaceutical plant construction intensifies, following the site selection trail can be a daunting process as companies are often considering a veritable laundry list of potential locations. By offering healthy incentive programs, North Carolina continues to land some of the hottest projects in the country, reinforcing its place as one of the nation's major pharmaceutical hubs.

North Carolina recently put together a package of state incentives that successfully secured a commitment from Merck and Company Incorporated (NYSE: MRK) (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey) to build $300 million for a new vaccine manufacturing plant. (PEC 15001554) Amidst some dissention over the incentives’ total value rising from an initial $36 million to the final amount of $39.4 million, the state General Assembly approved the deal last month. Merck is in the process of securing a 256-acre site at Treyburn Corporate Park in Durham, where the project is expected to start construction later this summer. 272,000 square-feet of office and manufacturing space will be built and the site is forecast to employ 200 employees when it starts production in 2009.

Click on the image at right to view the North Carolina Pharmaceutical-Biotech Projects List.

As first reported by Industrialinfo.com in February of 2002, a $1 million loan helped convince KBI Biopharma Incorporated (Durham, North Carolina) to purchase the former Mitsubishi semiconductor plant in Durham. $45 million worth of renovations are underway to transform the plant into a biotech-manufacturing site (PEC 15001673). KBI also received additional investments from other various sources in the state.

Aided by the promise of incentives valued at over $5 million, The Andrx Corporation (NASDAQ: ADRX) (Plantation, Florida) purchased the former Bristol Myers plant in Morrisville, North Carolina and is spending $85 million in a multi-phased renovation program. Industrialinfo.com has tracked the project for the past couple of years with their latest updated report identifying O’Neal Incorporated (Greenville, South Carolina) as the construction manager for Phase I. (PEC 15001667/15001872).

Another Florida-based company, the generic powerhouse Ivax Corporation (NYSE: IVX) (Miami, Florida) is also looking at North Carolina as the spot for significant capital investment. The company is wants to build a $70 million packaging and distribution facility (PEC 15001870). While the company is still in the site selection process, with Texas or Florida as possible choices, the company has been offered over $7 million in incentives to build in North Carolina. A decision on the location is expected later this year.

Click the following link to view Industrialinfo.com's new 2004 North American Pharmaceutical-Biotech Forecast and entire Pharmaceutical-Biotech Database, featuring comprehensive plant profiles and project reports.