By Chris Capot | This article originally appeared via NCBiotech’s blog
To celebrate 30 years of manufacturing investment, innovation, workforce development and community partnership in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park (RTP), Biogen leaders and employees hosted a large gathering at the company’s sprawling RTP campus today.
The celebration included N.C. Gov. Josh Stein, state and local officials, and multiple members of the biotech community.
Biogen is North Carolina’s largest biotechnology employer with more than 1,500 employees and 400 skilled contractors across its Wake County and Durham County campuses.
“North Carolina is a global leader in life sciences, and Biogen has been at the heart of that story for three decades,” Stein said. “This new $2 billion investment means more innovation, more good-paying jobs, better health, and a stronger economy.”
Biogen, which in July had announced a new investment of $2 billion in its RTP manufacturing facilities, took the opportunity to reveal a pledge of $250,000 from the company and the Biogen Foundation to Durham Technical Community College’s new Life Sciences Center.
The donation will fund a lab hall anchored by the BioWork Lab, the company said. The lab enables learners to earn manufacturing certification and transition directly into careers in biopharma manufacturing.
30 years in RTP
“When I first came here 30 years ago, RTP was really dominated by large companies – IBM, Northern Telecom, and GSK,” said Chris Viehbacher, president and CEO, Biogen. “But today, the area has also become a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and venture capital. And it is the go-to place for high-tech manufacturing.”
Viehbacher was one of several speakers who celebrated Biogen’s history of achievement in RTP.
“We are now the largest biotech employer in the state, and our largest manufacturing footprint is here in North Carolina. And while I’m tremendously proud of our history here, we have bigger hopes for the future,” Viehbacher said. “We’re doubling down even further in RTP with an additional $2 billion investment on top of the $10 million that we have already invested here.
“And this investment will expand our ability to manufacture more of our medicines in the United States and also to build the infrastructure needed to advance some of the most promising next-generation treatments for rare genetic and neurogenical diseases, like Alzheimer’s, and automation.”
Jim Mullen, former CEO of Biogen, headed up the company when it decided to establish its manufacturing facility in RTP more than 30 years ago. Biogen’s headquarters is in Boston.
Mullen recounted that RTP “was a brilliant idea started in 1959 and put together by state, local politicians, and business people. And the impact the park has had on North Carolina and this region continues to be immeasurable.”
NC leaders believed that too many graduates of the state’s many universities had to move away to start their careers, and RTP was imagined as one way to create the types of jobs and industries that would keep homegrown talent from moving out of the state.
Choosing North Carolina
Biogen was a young biotech company then, and it anticipated needing an additional and new manufacturing site to produce what would be its first commercial drug product, Avonex. Company leaders wanted the new facility to be close to headquarters, where production could continue and later expand. However, after looking extensively at sites throughout New England, Mullen decided that North Carolina’s RTP was the right location.
“What was obvious from the first visit (to North Carolina) was the cooperation, collaboration, and mission orientation of state, local, Research Triangle Foundation, and local businesses, to recruit businesses to North Carolina and ensure their success was unparalleled. And indeed, that’s exactly the experience we had,” Mullen said. “We didn’t have to ask to seek Governor (Jim) Hunt. Governor Hunt sought us out and said come talk. North Carolina had no better salesman and advocate than Governor Hunt.”
Mullen said the secret of North Carolina was simple, “yet I’d never seen it done like it is done here in North Carolina. It didn’t require special tax breaks or changes to regulations. It required the public and private sectors to work collaboratively to solve problems and not create unnecessary obstacles.”
Mullen thanked many local and state officials, including two key people from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center – Bill Bullock, who at that time was vice president for statewide and economic development, and Dr. Charles Hamner.
“I can’t say enough about the role the late Dr. Charles Hammer played as the leader of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center,” Mullen said. “Charles knew everybody, every politician, every businessman in the industry in North Carolina, and pretty much throughout pharma. And for anyone who had the privilege to spend time with Charles, I guarantee that they were a better person for it.”
Doug Edgeton, president and CEO of NCBiotech, said that Biogen’s long history of manufacturing excellence in North Carolina is a testament to the state’s commitment to making sure the life sciences thrive here.
“Biogen is a shining example of how the public and private sectors in North Carolina have worked hard and collaboratively to grow the life sciences in RTP and across the state,” he said.
