April 14, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
DURHAM, N.C. – Officials in the city and county of Durham are pooling resources to convince Aurobindo Pharma USA, the New Jersey-based affiliate of India-based Aurobindo Pharma to renovate and expand an existing manufacturing facility in Durham.
Aurobindo USA is looking to invest $31 million into the proposed project, which could generate up to 200 new jobs for the area. The majority of the positions are expected to be in manufacturing, with an average salary of $54,000. However, Durham officials are having to contend with the possibility Aurobindo could build a new facility in New Jersey, where the company already has 90 acres of property near its U.S. headquarters in East Windsor, N.J., the Triangle Business Journal reported this morning.
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.
While Durham officials were prepared to offer Aurobindo USA up to $1,000 per job in incentives, there was no mention of worry by local officials over a controversial state law that has been called discriminatory to transgender people, which has prompted some companies, including PayPal and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to rethink investments in the state. 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, 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.
Other pharmaceutical companies that have footprints in North Carolina have expressed their displeasure with the bill, called HB2.
On its Twitter page, Biogen , one of the largest pharma companies in the Research Triangle Park area, condemned the legislation and said the company supports “the power of difference.” Boston-based Biogen, which employs more than 1,000 in North Carolina, provided a link to a company perspectives blog posting on its website expressing its support of diversity.
“Without diversity, our ability to solve complex problems—the very foundation on which our company is built—would be difficult to navigate. This is why we have been focused on growing a sustainable workplace culture of excellence and inclusion. We believe that this is best accomplished by eliminating barriers and enhancing access to opportunities and resources. It means embracing and harnessing the potential of people of all backgrounds. Inclusion allows us to maximize the value from our workforce and the communities we serve,” Biogen said in its perspectives posting.
Bayer , which has its crop sciences headquarters in the RTP area, also took to Twitter to voice its displeasure, the News & Observer of Raleigh reported. The company decried the legislation, saying it has “zero tolerance” for discrimination.
