DURHAM AND MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer Novartis (NYSE: NVS) has announced a $771 million expansion of its footprint in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. According to the company, the expansion will create 700 new jobs in Durham and Wake counties and more than 3,000 indirect jobs by the end of 2030. The North Carolina expansion is part of the Swiss company’s pledge to invest $23 billion in U.S. infrastructure over the next five years.
Doubling the company’s operational presence to more than 700,000 square feet, the expansion will significantly increase manufacturing capacity. The expansion will comprise new construction as well as the renovation of existing facilities across three sites in Durham and Morrisville.
The new hub will include a new site in Durham housing two new facilities for manufacturing biologics and sterile packaging and a new site in Morrisville for the production of solid dosage tablets and capsules, as well as an expansion of an existing Durham facility to support sterile filling of biologics into syringes and vials.
One of the new facilities will be located at Pathway Triangle, occupying 202,000 square feet at the 1 million-square-foot campus in Morrisville. CBRE represented both Novartis and the landlord, King Street Properties, in the lease negotiations.
A Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) awarded to Novartis Gene Therapies Inc. has been approved by North Carolina’s Economic Investment Committee. The state’s economy is expected to grow by $3.1 billion as a result of the project, and the projected return on investment of public dollars is 215 percent.
Civic and economic development partners include the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, North Carolina Community College System, Durham Technical Community College, Wake Technical Community College, Duke Energy, Durham County, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Wake County, Town of Morrisville and Wake County Economic Development, a program under the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
Based in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis produces medicines and therapies that reach nearly 300 million people worldwide. The company’s stock price closed on Thursday, Nov. 19 at $127.31 per share, up from $103.09 a year ago, a nearly 23.5 percent increase.
— Hayden Spiess