Drugmaker Regeneron ($REGN) will get nearly $7 million in state tax credits to help with the 300 jobs it will add at an $80 million plant and office complex it is building in New York.
The company is spending $72 million on a new 65,000-square-foot plant and another $7.5 million for administrative offices in East Greenbush, NY. The plant will include two 10,000-liter bioreactors and will manufacture material for clinical trials and possibly for commercial production, Vice President Peter Dworkin tells FiercePharmaManufacturing via email. He says the new capacity is needed because of the number of products Regeneron has in the pipeline.
Work has started on the office building and ground will be moved for the plant before the end of the year. Most of the 300 jobs will be in the new plant, Dworkin says. According to the office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Regeneron will get $6.7 million in tax credits via the state's Excelsior Jobs Program. The company also is getting some assistance from local jurisdictions as well. About 100 construction jobs will be generated during the raising of the plant.
The runaway success of its Eylea drug for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has pushed the company to twice tear up financial forecasts and replace them with higher estimates. It last said its full-year U.S. Eylea sales will tally $700 million to $750 million. That is up 50% from the $500 million to $550 million projected just three months ago, which was nearly double an earlier projection. But the company says it has a bunch of new products for which it needs a new plant to fulfill. Among projects currently in development is a new drug it is working on with Sanofi ($SNY) that cuts bad cholesterol.
- read the governor's announcement