Durham lands another gene therapy expansion. This one is creating 200 jobs.
Taysha Gene Therapies, a publicly traded gene therapy company, will open a manufacturing facility in Durham after landing an incentive worth more than $5 million from North Carolina.
The Job Development Investment Grant was approved Thursday morning by the state’s Economic Investment Committee.
The Taysha facility is expected to create 200 jobs over the next two and a half years, the state’s Commerce Department said.
The average wage of the jobs will be $119,751 per year.
The expansion is another win for the Triangle’s growing gene therapy cluster. Gene therapy, one of the more promising fields for treating genetic diseases, has grown rapidly in the past 10 years.
Just in the past few months, Durham-based AskBio, founded by a UNC professor, was sold to Bayer in a deal worth up to $4 billion, and another firm, Atsena Therapeutics, raised $55 million from investors.
Increasingly, though, gene therapy companies from outside of North Carolina continue to pick the Triangle as their manufacturing hub. AveXis, Bluebird Bio and Pfizer all have manufacturing operations in the Triangle now.
“Companies like Taysha Gene Therapies continue to expand in North Carolina because we have the scientists, skilled workers and climate for innovation they need to tackle health care’s toughest challenges,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement about the expansion.
Durham was apparently competing with Dallas, Taysha’s hometown, for the jobs, according to Commerce.
Taysha has several treatments in pre-clinical studies at the moment. Commerce said the company is expected to submit up to four Investigational New Drug applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2021.
The company plans to invest $75 million into a 187,000-square-foot facility in Durham.
“North Carolina has a thriving life sciences ecosystem with significant expertise in gene therapy manufacturing, and we are delighted to establish our manufacturing center in Durham,” Taysha CEO R.A. Session II said in a statement. “With our management team with technical and manufacturing know-how leading the charge, this leading facility will serve as a center of excellence for gene therapy development, from preclinical studies through commercialization, and will further Taysha’s leadership position in gene therapy as well as support our next phase of growth.”
The incentive from North Carolina is potentially worth $4.8 million over 12 years. The company will only receive the grant if it meets hiring goals. It’s also getting training money worth $360,000.
Durham County will also chip in $700,000 in incentives.
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