Thanks to attractive economic incentive packages offered by state and local governments, North Carolina has become the United States’ epicenter of drug manufacturing for major pharmaceutical companies.
Now, its neighboring state to the north, Virginia, is looking for a piece of the action.
Lawmakers in the Old Dominion have approved proposed economic development packages for AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly to locate new manufacturing facilities in the state, according to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The packages, each valued at more than $10 million, are for AZ to build a massive plant in Albemarle County, near the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and for Lilly to set up a production facility in Goochland County, just northeast of the state capital, Richmond, according to the report.
On Thursday, neither company confirmed the report.
The news comes on the heels of AZ announcing last month in Washington, D.C. that it had selected Virginia for a massive drug substance manufacturing facility, which would be the company’s highest-priced plant ever. In a press conference, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said that AZ had agreed to invest $4 billion in the state.
The plant in Virginia is part of the British/Swedish company’s plan to invest $50 billion in the U.S. through 2030.
As for Lilly, the company unveiled a plan six months ago—also during a press conference in Washington, D.C.—to build four new manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
Three of the facilities are earmarked for drug substance manufacturing, while the fourth plant would handle the fill-finish of injectable drugs. The outlay for the four facilities would be $27 billion, Lilly said, creating 3,000 manufacturing jobs.
“As announced in February, Lilly is actively evaluating manufacturing site locations throughout the U.S. to expand capacity to meet the growing demand for our current and future pipeline medicines across multiple therapeutic areas. Any future decisions will be shared at the appropriate time,” a Lilly spokesperson said on Thursday.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership did not respond immediately to a request for confirmation.
Compared to North Carolina, Virginia hosts few biopharma manufacturing outfits. Merck has the largest presence in the state with a 1.1 million-square-foot vaccine manufacturing facility in Elkton, which employs more than 1,000 people.