Novartis plans hundreds of jobs in Durham and Morrisville
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A building on Novartis campus in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
Swiss biotech giant Novartis said Wednesday it will create hundreds of new jobs in Durham and Morrisville in exchange for millions in state and local incentives.
Why it matters: The Triangle's biotech and pharmaceutical industries have been on a hot streak in recent years, with several companies deciding to expand their manufacturing in the U.S., including Fujifilm, Genentech and Novo Nordisk.
- The Novartis expansion will build out existing locations the company has around the Research Triangle Park area.
- The expansion is meant to support several drugs through the manufacturing of large molecule biologics, small molecule therapeutics and aseptic drug products. But the company's flagship gene therapy is Zolgensma, which treats spinal muscular atrophy.
Driving the news: The state's Economic Investment Committee approved a Job Development Investment Grant to Novartis Gene Therapies on Wednesday morning.
- The state is offering the company around $7.5 million in incentives if it meets hiring and investment goals by 2030.
- Durham and Wake counties, as well as Morrisville, will add $12.6 million in incentives.
Zoom in: Novartis said it plans to hire 380 positions across locations in Durham and Morrisville.
- The company already has 331 workers in Durham, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce.
- The average wage of the new jobs would be more than $111,000.
- Commerce said the Triangle was competing with the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the jobs.
State of play: This is the third incentive package the state has approved for Novartis, along with ones it gave to a gene therapy company called Avexis that Novartis acquired.
- Those other incentive packages dated to 2018 and 2019. Novartis is in compliance on the 2018 deal, but canceled its agreement with the state for the 2019 one.
- "While the company exceeded the investment commitments outlined in the [2019] agreement, challenging market conditions ultimately prevented it from meeting the associated job creation requirements," said Mark Poole, of the Commerce Department.
- The company received one payment of $61,500 related to the 2019 grant, and it will need to pay it back before receiving the new incentive package.
Editor's note: This is a developing story and will be updated.