S&P 500 company Catalent to expand in RTP, pledges 200-plus new jobs

The biotech firm Catalent has announced plans to expand its North Carolina footprint with a new facility — and new jobs — in Research Triangle Park.

On Tuesday, the New Jersey-based company received a Job Development Investment Grant, or JDIG, from the North Carolina Economic Investment Committee (EIC) to create 201 new jobs over the next five years on the Durham County side of RTP. Catalent, which partners with pharmaceutical companies to develop and manufacture medicine, will use the site for testing and analytical development. It’s pledged to invest $40 million in the project.

The total value of the state’s JDIG is $1,074,000. More than $800,000 of the award will be available to Catalent through payroll tax rebates, which will materialize if the company meets annual hiring and investment commitments. The rest of the grant — roughly $268,000, will be put into the state’s utility account, which funds infrastructure improvements in rural areas seeking further economic development.

Average wages at the site will be $91,500, and positions will include roles for scientists, lab staff and engineers. The state estimates the Catalent site will add $378 million to North Carolina’s economy over its eight-year term. The five-member EIC calculated this surplus using the Walden Model, a cost-benefit equation developed in 2002 by North Carolina State University economist Michael Walden.

“This has been a banner year for economic development across the state,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement Tuesday. “Our global reputation for manufacturing and biotechnology has been a major contributor to welcoming expansions from companies like Catalent.”

The company already has a presence in the Triangle, a Morrisville site called the Center of Excellence for Analytical Services. As of August, Catalent also operates a 333,000-square-foot facility in Eastern North Carolina after it purchased the Greenville-based therapeutic producer CDMO Metrics Contract Services.

“Catalent is committed to the continuous growth and expansion of its analytical capabilities,” said Jeremie Trochu, Catalent’s head for bioanalytics, in a statement Tuesday. “By establishing significant additional capacity here on the East Coast, we can offer our customers greater flexibility and expanded support services across the biologics and advanced modalities development pipeline.”

Catalent is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization above $8.4 billion. It is a member of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index, which tracks the performance of large-scale public companies.

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.

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