North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Kyowa Kirin, Inc., a global specialty pharmaceutical company based in Japan has approved plans to build a new, $530 million manufacturing facility in Sanford. The 171,700-sq. ft., two-reactor site will increase the company’s development and production of biologic therapies for patients with rare and serious diseases.
“The extraordinary complexity of the medicines we manufacture requires specialized skills and resources that are in plentiful supply in Sanford and the Research Triangle region,” said Paul Testa, executive vice president, Kyowa Kirin North America. “We’re excited to collaborate with area colleges, universities, businesses, and civic leaders to ensure that our plans align with Sanford’s vision for growth, anchored in a rejuvenated manufacturing economy that offers diverse job opportunities and returns value to the community.”
The new facility will manufacture innovative biologic therapies, including next-generation antibodies, for the company’s planned clinical trials and future commercial use while creating more resilient and efficient supply lines that more readily withstand shifting global forces. The 75-acre campus at Helix Innovation Park at The Brickyard will allow for future expansion, should the company’s portfolio necessitate greater capacity as its pipeline programs advance.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2027. Kyowa Kirin will receive performance-based state and local incentives to Kyowa Kirin of $10 million over 12 years, which are estimated to grow the state’s economy by $1.05 billion over the course of grant, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.2 The plant will create more than 100 new local jobs at an average salary of $91,496.
“Our North American presence continues to grow through strategic investments that are adding new capabilities, new therapeutic expertise, and new talent to our global organization, all in service of meeting patients’ needs,” said Steve Schaefer, Kyowa Kirin North American President. “Among the many qualities that drew us to North Carolina are our shared values, such as harmony and teamwork¾known as Wa, which is deeply engrained in our culture at Kyowa Kirin, evident in our longstanding corporate partnerships, and fundamental to high-quality pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
The Sanford facility will round out and enhance Kyowa Kirin’s global manufacturing network, which includes sites in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, and Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan.
“I am very excited that Kyowa Kirin is constructing a new manufacturing plant for biologics drug substance in the United States,” said Toshiyuki Kurata, Chief Supply Chain Officer, and Global Manufacturing Head at Kyowa Kirin. “The new facility will be scalable with our Takasaki Plant in Japan to help ease technology transfer between the two plants and add production capacity. We believe this will help accelerate drug development and production.”
