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Vaccine Plant Possible in N.C.: Within Weeks, Novartis Could Pick a Site for a $400 Million Plant That Creates 800 Jobs

Posted on: Friday, 12 May 2006, 09:07 CDT

By John Murawski, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

May 12--The Swiss maker of Ex-Lax and Gerber baby food is considering North Carolina as a potential site for a $400 million flu-vaccine manufacturing plant that could employ 800 people.

Novartis has narrowed its site search for a United States plant to three locations, chief executive Daniel Vasella said in an article published Wednesday by MarketWatch, an online news service. The company could pick a site within a few weeks, he said.

On Thursday, Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff wouldn't say whether the North Carolina site under consideration is in the Triangle or elsewhere. He also would not name the other two sites in the running, except to say that one of Novartis' requirements is that the plant be built in the Eastern United States.

Novartis' vaccine manufacturing plants in Liverpool, England, and Marburg, Germany, each employ about 800 people.

"It is a very skilled and elaborate process," Althoff said of vaccine production.

If a decision on the site is imminent, it suggests that Novartis is in the final stages of the intensely competitive site-selection process, during which bidding and counteroffers by state officials are at their most sensitive. At stake is potentially millions of dollars in state and local incentives for companies that bring jobs, property tax revenue and international prestige.

Economic development recruiters in Raleigh and Greensboro would not comment on whether Novartis is in talks with North Carolina officials. Greensboro is the U.S. headquarters for Novartis Animal Health, which employs about 200 people.

"I really can't add anything to that article or elaborate on it in any other way," said Ken Atkins, the head recruiter for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. "In the projects that I normally work on, the formal announcement is usually made by the governor if North Carolina is involved."

Officials with the N.C. Commerce Department, the lead agency for business recruitment, could not be reached for comment.

The medical and pharmaceutical sector is one of the state's top priorities for recruitment. Merck is building a vaccine plant in Durham that will yield the drug maker as much as $39 million in financial incentives.

Based in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis researches, develops and manufactures health-care products. Novartis products include Maalox, Gas X, Vagistat, No-Doz and Excedrin. The company employs 96,000 worldwide.

Novartis is in the forefront of a U.S. flu outbreak preparedness plan.

The company last week was awarded $220 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to mass-produce a flu vaccine that would help the nation respond to a flu pandemic. The five-year grant, which would go toward developing the North American vaccine plant, was awarded for product development and facility and equipment design.

U.S. authorities are enlisting Novartis to develop a flu vaccine from cell cultures, as opposed to using the conventional method of relying on chicken eggs. The current egg-based process delays vaccine production by several months so that eggs can be ordered and delivered.

What's more, an avian strain of the flu could decimate the nation's chicken population, reducing the availability of eggs and hindering vaccine production.

GlaxoSmithKline, which has one of its twin U.S. headquarters in RTP, will receive $274 million as part of the flu program.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The News & Observer

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