Durham County looks to land hundreds of biotech jobs with economic incentives

DURHAM – More life science and biopharmaceutical jobs could be coming to the Triangle, pending economic incentives deals.

Public records show that the Durham County Board of Commissioners will hold two public hearings on two separate economic development projects that are eyeing Durham for constructing or outfitting facilities in the county on Monday night.

One project under consideration has already been announced publicly: Catalent, a New Jersey headquartered company that has existing operations in Morrisville, plans to invest $40 million to construct a facility that could employ at least 201 workers in Durham.  And, those jobs would pay an average annual wage of more than $91,000, according to prior WRAL TechWire reporting.

Catalent also recently bought a Greenville, N.C-based contract development and manufacturing organization, Metrics Contract Services, for $475 million.

The Durham project, which is known as Project Green, was announced in December.  A source familiar with the project and the company confirmed to WRAL TechWire that Catalent is the one that will be considered at tonight’s public hearing .

Under discussion will be whether the Board of Commissioners ought to approve awarding a total of $150,000 in performance-based incentives to the company, along with authorizing “the County Manager to negotiate and execute a performance agreement for Project Green,” according to the agenda.

Across North Carolina, including Catalent’s announcement, the state’s life science sector landed $2.1 billion in pledged investment with companies committing to hire more than 2,700 workers in the state in 2022.

Christopher Chung, the CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, told WRAL TechWire and multiple audiences this month that the Triangle, and the state of North Carolina, are in excellent position for further economic development in 2023.

NC’s life science sector lands $2.1B in expansions plus 2,700 job commitments in ’22

Another $450 million investment, 100 jobs could be coming, too

In addition to the discussion of Project Green, or the Catalent facility, a second agenda item will be considered at tonight’s Durham County Board of Commissioners meeting regarding an economic development project code named “Project Carter.”

“The company is a global pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, production, and sale of medicine,” according to the agenda. The hearing centers on whether to approve awarding a total of $5 million in performance-based incentives.

“Durham is very unique in that if you go to other counties across North Carolina, they actually have to give a lot more, a much higher percentage, because they don’t have the talent that we have,” Durham County Commissioner Nimasheena Burns told WRAL News reporter Monica Casey on Monday, addressing why an incentives package might offer as much as $5 million in incentives to a company.  “They don’t have the resources that we have.”

Such a deal could land a new drug product and device assembly facility “for two prominent drugs” and for a second “a pre-filled syringe formulation, filling, and inspection line” in Durham County that could see an investment of $450 million, according to the agenda.

And, if the company selects Durham for investment, it would also bring at least 100 jobs to the region, with average wages of more than $56,400, according to the agenda.

“I know we hear these numbers, and to some of our residents, it might seem like a lot, when you take into account what we’re gong to get back in property taxes, it is really a very small amount,” said Burns.  “There’s a reason why almost 70% of the biopharma jobs come here, the medicine manufacturing, the bioanalytics jobs, it’s because we have the talent here.”

Biotech firm bringing 201 jobs that pay $91,500+ to Durham

Expanding the life science workforce

The agenda notes that most of the created jobs could be entry-level jobs, noting that “approximately 90% of the jobs created by this project will be entry-level roles that can be hired with Durham Tech’s BioWork Certificate or high school education.”

Further, the unnamed company’s project, would involve “reasonable efforts to participate in workforce partnerships with local organizations” including the area’s community colleges and NC Works Center Durham.

According to the published agenda, the company tied to Project Carter is “a founding member of the NC Biotechnology Center’s Apprenticeship Consortium.”

That consortium was announced in May 2022, and according to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, some of the firms that “have signed on as charter members of the North Carolina Life Sciences Apprenticeship Consortium” include FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis Gene Therapies, and Merck.  However, as of May 2022, “additional companies are being recruited to join the consortium,” Rick Lawless, former workforce development director for the Biotech Center, said at the time.

Many more ‘transformative’ economic development deals coming to NC in 2023

Any deal would follow these investments

Notable recent life science and pharmaceutical investments in the region:

• Eli Lilly bought three parcels of land totaling 102 acres in Research Triangle Park in 2021 that are adjacent to its existing campus facility, where it agreed to invest $474 million in 2020.
• Pfizer announced earlier this month that it had bought a facility in Sanford from Abzena and planned to add 200 jobs in the region.
• FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is building a $2 billion facility in Holly Springs and announced another $188 million investment in Wake County in November.
• Novartis is closing a Wilson plant, it announced in December, potentially affecting about 200 workers.
• Another global pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences, announced a $5 million investment in 2021 to establish a business services office in Raleigh that could employ more than 300 workers.

A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Commerce declined to confirm whether “Project Carter” would be on the agenda for a regularly scheduled meeting of the state’s Economic Investment Committee, held on Tuesday morning.

“While we talk to many companies about their site selection options, we don’t discuss those conversations until the company in question publicly announces its decision,” the spokesperson said.

~ WRAL News’ Monica Casey contributed to this report

The post Durham County looks to land hundreds of biotech jobs with economic incentives first appeared on WRAL TechWire.

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