The company’s selection of the Research Triangle area will establish its first biomanufacturing site in North America. CARsgen Therapeutics currently has its U.S. clinical development operations in Houston, Texas.
CARsgen Therapeutics Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings Limited, is a clinical stage biotechnology company specializing in what’s known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies, a type of therapy that engages people’s immune systems in a new way.
The therapeutic approach can yield medicines for various human cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumors.
The company’s project in North Carolina will establish a 37,000 square foot clinical/early-stage commercial manufacturing facility and then a 100,000 square foot cGMP commercial manufacturing facility in Durham that will eventually produce FDA approved cell therapies.
Although wages will vary by job position, the aggregate average salary of the new positions will reach $76,061, bringing a payroll impact of $15.2 million to the region each and every year. The current average wage in Durham County is $75,892.
Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by $1.04 billion. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the 200 new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $1,616,250, spread over 12 years. Over the 12 years, those state tax revenues will exceed $31.1 million.
State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
CARsgen’s JDIG agreement also could move as much as $538,750 into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account for use by rural communities elsewhere in the state. The Utility Account helps finance necessary infrastructure upgrades in more economically challenged areas of the state to attract future business. ■