Regeneron Invest in Facilities and Manufacturing Expansion
The biopharmaceutical company will invest approximately $800 million to expand facilities and manufacturing capacity at its campus in Rensselaer County, NY.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a Tarrytown, NY-based biopharmaceutical company, is said to be investing $800 million over seven years to expand laboratory space, manufacturing capacity, and warehouse facilities its Rensselaer County campus in the greater Capital Region, NY. The expansion was announced by the Office of the Governor of New York, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, in a Sept. 11, 2018 press release. The expansion will also create 1500 new full-time job, according to the governor’s office.
To encourage Regeneron's expansion in NY state, Empire State Development, a NY-state economic development organization, offered the company up to $140 million in performance-based incentives, including $70 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits.
"New York is proud to be at the forefront of the life sciences industry and the home of global biotech leaders like Regeneron," Governor Cuomo said in the press release. "The continued growth of Regeneron here in New York is yet another indication that we are leading the way in the life sciences and attracting the jobs of tomorrow. Regeneron's expansion will further drive economic growth in the Capital Region and fuel lifesaving innovation and development that benefits the entire world."
Regeneron, established as a biotech start-up in 1988 in New York City, is the largest biotech company in NY state today and one of the largest worldwide, Governor Cuomo reports.
"Regeneron was founded as a proud New York company 30 years ago, and we appreciate the continued commitment of Governor Cuomo's administration to make New York the ideal location to build and expand an innovative life-science company. As our number of approved and investigational medicines continues to grow, our need for world-class manufacturing teams and facilities also increases. These state incentives, along with other state and federal policies, have helped Regeneron keep and expand our operations in New York State, which will benefit the local economy and help us achieve our mission of bringing new medicines to people with serious diseases," said Leonard S. Schleifer, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Regeneron, in the governor’s press release.
In July 2018, Governor Cuomo announced a new, public-private research collaboration to advance the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases. The New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center Laboratory and Regeneron will collaborate to potentially develop improved diagnostics, prophylactics, and therapeutics to diagnose and treat tick-borne diseases, starting with Lyme disease. Regeneron and the Wadsworth Center Laboratory will jointly research how the causative agent of Lyme disease, the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, replicates when a human is bitten by a tick carrying the bacterium, and how the host's immune response is activated. According to the collaborators, the information will potentially advance the development of improved diagnostics, prophylactics, and new therapeutics.
Over the course of five years, Regeneron will invest up to $48 million in this research and the state will reimburse 50% of Regeneron's research costs up to a total reimbursement of $24 million through the New York State Life Sciences Initiative. Additionally, up to $6 million will be provided to Wadsworth Center Laboratory through the life sciences initiative.
