Cambridge Major Laboratories, Inc.'s $20 Million Expansion To Create 75 New Jobs
December 17, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Editor
Wisconsin’s push to pull out all the stops to keep biotech Cambridge Major Laboratories Inc. local has apparently worked. The firm said Wednesday that is doubling down in the local economy and will plough $20 million into its research and development and manufacturing facilities in Germantown, Wisc., creating 75 jobs in the process.
Cambridge said the massive project will include a new administrative headquarters and will create 75 new jobs before it is finished at the end of 2015. Local authorities have been major boosters of the plan, with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation giving Cambridge up to $800,000 in Jobs Tax Credits over the next three years as a deal sweetener. The authority said the actual amount of tax credits awarded will depend upon the number of jobs created during that period.
“We are pleased to be expanding our pharmaceutical services presence and capabilities in Wisconsin,” said Stephan Kutzer, CEO of AAIPharma Services and CML. “Wisconsin’s strong base of research universities and talented workforce, combined with the support of the State of Wisconsin, Washington County and the Village of Germantown, contributed to our decision to make significant additional investments in our active pharmaceutical ingredient operations in Germantown.”
CML is based in Germantown where it employs about 180 workers in a 60,000-square-foot facility for API development and API manufacturing services from early pre-clinical to commercial production.
In addition to the lucrative tax cuts, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development said recently that it will award CML a $400,000 Wisconsin Fast Forward worker training grant, which will fund the training of 250 existing and new employees towards industry-specific skill sets and needs.
“The Department of Workforce Development supports innovative training solutions that help workers develop skills that are in demand by employers,” DWD Secretary Reggie Newson said. “These are the kinds of innovative programs that make Wisconsin a leader in addressing the skills gap and ensuring a talent pipeline for employers in our state.”
Even town and county officials had rushed to provide Cambridge with plum incentives, with the Village of Germantown and Washington County providing a $280,000 loan through the county’s Attraction Fund with cushy terms that allows for principal forgiveness “should CML meet certain jobs and new investment performance criteria.” It also plonked down a $200,000 low-interest loan from its County Impact Revolving Loan Fund and various other incentives up to $378,000.
“This project demonstrates CML’s commitment to increasing its research and development efforts in Wisconsin as the company continues to serve the pharmaceutical industry by developing and manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for life-saving drugs,” said Governor Scott Walker. “The center also will provide dozens of new family-supporting jobs in Washington County as CML adds new scientists, engineers and other professionals to its staff.”
CML recently merged with AAIPharma Services Corp. and now has more than 800 employees operating at seven sites in the U.S. and Europe. It focuses primarily on API development and manufacturing, but also has facilities for solid state chemistry, formulation development, analytical development and testing services, clinical and commercial finished dosage form manufacturing (solid dose and parenteral), packaging and stability services.