On Tuesday, global pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company announced that it will create more than 460 new jobs in Durham County by opening a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant.
Governor Cooper, in a statement issued by the state Department of Commerce, says that the new plant will create more than 400 highly skilled positions for scientists, engineers, quality professionals, and manufacturing operations.
“Life science companies like Lilly continue to choose North Carolina,” Cooper said in the release. “Our exceptional workforce draws global companies as we continue to grow North Carolina into a worldwide hub for biotechnology.”
Eli Lilly spokesman Scott MacGregor told the INDY that the company expects to begin operations in RTP in 2023.
“It will take about three years to get it up and running,” MacGregor says. “Construction will get underway shortly with the hiring of local contractors. The hiring for the 462 positions will happen later on down the road.”
The average salary for the new positions will, on average, exceed $72,000.
The News & Observer reports that the company opted to build a new plant in Durham in exchange for more than $12 million in incentives from local and state governments if it meets its hiring and investment goals.
The Department of Commerce, which led the state’s efforts to attract the company, says the project will be facilitated in part by a grant that’s estimated to grow the state’s economy by $4.1 billion by 2032. The agreement calls for the company to be reimbursed up to $8.6 million over that same time period, commerce officials report.
The incentives include the state community college system chipping in a little over $1.1 million for the training of new workers hired by the company, says commerce spokesman David Rhoades.
Durham County will contribute $2.55 million in local incentives, Rhoades reported.
Durham County was competing with Indianapolis, where Eli Lilly is headquartered, and Philadelphia, Rhoades told the INDY. The company also has manufacturing facilities worldwide.
MacGregor says several reasons factored into the company’s decision to open a manufacturing plant in Durham. Those reasons include the RTP location and a highly skilled workforce already trained in drug manufacturing.
In November, MacGregor says, Lilly announced a $400 million investment in its Indianapolis location, and the company is expanding to keep up with the demand for its medicines.
“The geographic diversity is important too,” MacGregor says. “It’s important to ensure diversity so that at any given time we are able to meet the demand for our products.
Although the company has manufacturing facilities worldwide, MacGregor says, Lilly officials “felt it was important to invest in another site in the U.S. because it’s our largest market. It’s the largest market in the world.”
MacGregor says that “the economic incentives” offered by the state and Durham County “really show a strong partnership and a strong spirit of innovation.”
The company was first established in 1876 and has developed drugs used to treat chronic and debilitating health problems including, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Rhoades says the company will produce “a variety of medications,” but will initially focus on Trulicity and Tirzepatide, both used to treat Type 2 diabetes.
Durham County will join the company’s seven other U.S. manufacturing sites in Indiana, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, MacGregor says.
Rhoades says the new plant will be located in the Parmer RTP Campus at Research Triangle Park, which was the former home of GlaxoSmithKline for 30 years before GSK sold its 20-building campus in 2017.
Contact staff writer Thomasi McDonald at [email protected].
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