Aurobindo Pharma Adding 275 Jobs in Durham Despite Backlash Over LGBT Law
April 27, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
DURHAM – At least one pharma company is moving ahead with plans to expand in North Carolina, despite a recently passed controversial law seen as discriminatory against transgender people. New Jersey-based Aurobindo Pharma USA committed to invest $31.7 million into a new headquarters and bring 275 new jobs, the Triangle Business Journal reported this morning.
The company, which is a subsidiary of India-based Aurobindo Pharma , had been courted by North Carolina officials to expand its manufacturing in Durham. Aurobindo will receive assistance from a $3.8 million Jobs Development Investment Grant from the state Economic Investment Committee, the Journal said. The state funds will be paid out over the next 12 years. Additionally, Aurobindo received $400,000 in incentives from Durham city and county officials, as well as nearly $500,000 in incentives from the state community college system.
In February 2015 Aurobindo USA announced that it will build a new manufacturing and distribution center in New Jersey that was expected to bring 300 new jobs. The company currently runs two facilities in central New Jersey for a total of about 300,000 square feet of laboratory, manufacturing, distribution and administrative space. Aurobindo USA has a broad portfolio of generic drugs that includes more than 125 product families and 450 individual product packages.
Ninad Deshpanday, president of R&D for Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc., said North Carolina has “has one of the best talent pools in the specialty pharma R&D and manufacturing sectors,” the Journal said, citing a press release issued by the N.C. Department of Commerce. Deshpanday said the company was looking forward to establishing a large footprint in the state.
Aurobindo is looking at taking over an existing structure in Durham that will allow it to achieve its manufacturing goals faster than if it were to build a new site on property the company already owns in New Jersey. The majority of the positions that will come with the new site are expected to be in manufacturing, with an average salary of $54,000.
While Aurobindo is going ahead with the planned expansion in North Carolina, HB2, the so-called bathroom bill, has caused other companies to balk planned expansions in the state, including PayPal and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In March, New Jersey-based Braeburn announced it will invest almost $20 million in a new manufacturing and research plant in Durham County, creating 52 new positions with an average salary of $76,000. But earlier this month, Raleigh-based WNCN reported Braeburn is rethinking the planned site and is “reevaluating our options based on the recent unjust legislation.” Braeburn, which does not yet have any approved medicines on the market, calls itself a Phase III specialty pharmaceutical company. The company is developing implantable and injectable treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders, including addiction, pain, and schizophrenia.