Injection device maker adding 650 jobs in RTP to produce one-use syringes for vaccines
ApiJect, the maker of an experimental injection device for the mass delivery of vaccines, is planning a huge expansion at the edge of Research Triangle Park in Durham, the company said Thursday.
ApiJect said it plans to build a 1-million-square-foot facility where it will manufacture its devices. The project could employ around 650 people.
The Connecticut-based company’s devices have not yet won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But on Thursday, it said a federal government agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., approved the company for a $590 million loan to construct the facility.
The loan was billed as a way to help the U.S. deliver vaccines and medicines more quickly during national emergencies — in this case the COVID-19 pandemic.
With positive trial results being reported from potential COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna, the nation is facing a potentially difficult rollout of vaccines to millions of Americans.
If approved, Pfizer and Moderna have said that they will be able to deliver tens of millions of vaccines by the end of the year, likely for frontline workers in health care. But, in 2021, hundreds of millions of doses will be needed in the U.S. — and even more internationally.
Once completed, the RTP facility would be able to make up to 3 billion single-dose, pre-filled injectors per year by 2022, the company said. ApiJect expects the full build out to cost almost $900 million.
A spokesman for the company, Steven Hoffman, said in a phone interview that North Carolina was chosen after a nationwide search for suitable locations. The facility is expected to be at 2501 East Cornwallis Road in Durham, near where Eli Lilly is building a large manufacturing facility as well.
Franco Negron, ApiJect’s CEO, said the loan will help the company transition as quickly as possible to reaching a capacity of 250 million doses a month. Negron called the Durham facility a “Gigafactory.”
“With the Gigafactory, America will have a ... facility with the flexibility to package up to 15 different drugs simultaneously, and a supply chain sourced 100% in the U.S.,” he said in a statement. “This project will ensure America is never caught short in its ability to fill and finish vaccines and injectable medicines necessary to respond to population-wide health threats ranging from COVID-19 to any potential future bio-emergencies.”
Negron added that the company chose RTP because it has a “strong pharmaceutical presence, a highly skilled workforce, and ready access to regional and nationwide transportation networks.”
Tony Copeland, North Carolina’s Commerce secretary, said ApiJect did not reach out to the state to request incentives for the project.
He said the expansion was really made possible due to the large amount of federal money being doled out in response to the pandemic.
“These are not normal times,” he said. “The amount of money coming out of Washington, it changes the paradigm.”
But he said he believes North Carolina’s previous investments into pharmaceutical manufacturing operations prepared the state to be the winner of this expansion. In recent years, the Triangle has landed manufacturing expansions from companies like Eli Lilly, Corning and Merck, among many others.
“Every further investment we get in life sciences creates a larger ecosystem and creates more [opportunities],” Copeland said.
In the meantime, the company has contracted with the Ritedose Corp. of Columbia to repurpose a facility in South Carolina. Once repurposed, it could have the capacity to fill up to 45 million doses per month of vaccines and other injectable medicines by next year, ApiJect said. That is being funded via a Department of Defense contract worth $138 million.
The federal loan for the RTP facility has a 10-year timeline, with an interest rate of approximately 4.5%, ApiJect said. Under the terms of the loan, ApiJect will need to raise an addition $195 million of capital to complete the facility, none of which can come from governmental sources.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Injection device maker adding 650 jobs in RTP to produce one-use syringes for vaccines."
