Drug Maker Chooses Sanford for $200M Plant

Kyowa Kirin, a Japanese life sciences company, has selected Sanford, North Carolina, for its new pharmaceutical manufacturing complex. The $200 million investment will create more than 100 jobs. The company will utilize the Helix Innovation Park at the Brickyard, a new 895-acre industrial park in Lee County.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee approved roughly $2 million worth of incentives to lure the project. Earlier, the Sanford City Council and the Lee County Board of Commissioners approved an incentives package of $3.86 million and roughly $4.7 million, respectively.

Kyowa Kirin first entered the North American market when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved three medicines it markets in the United States. The company has three other manufacturing sites in North America.

Sanford, in recent years has landed large projects from Pfizer and Astellas Gene Therapies, part of Japanese firm Astellas Pharma.