Board offers biotech firm money to open in Durham

The Durham Board of County Commissioners offered Monday to give a German biotechnology company up to $2 million if the company sets up a manufacturing facility in northern Durham.

With the support of several local leaders, the commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the incentive package for EMD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The money would help pay for the costs of the facility's construction between 2006 and 2010.

EMD, a two-year-old company specializing in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals to treat cancer and diabetes, currently employs 90 people in Durham and 17 in Lexington, Mass. The firm is planning to expand into one of about half a dozen locations around the world, including a 109-acre site in Treyburn Industrial Park in the northern part of the county.

"I think this is a wonderful opportunity for our community, and I do hope that we move from the short list [of possible sites] to the final choice," said commissioner Ellen Reckhow.

The expansion would represent an investment of about $260 million in Durham's economy, and create at least 1,200 jobs, said Deputy County Manager Carolyn Titus. Of those, 75 to 80 percent would be white-collar jobs.

Representatives from the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Durham Technical Community College and the local Employment Security Commission spoke in support of the project, saying it would have a positive impact on the county's tax base, job opportunities and diversity of economic activity.

"I personally can't think of a better example of when to offer an industrial incentive package," said County Manager Mike Ruffin.

Two EMD representatives were in the audience at the meeting, and some speakers spent as much time explaining the benefits the county had to offer the company as they did trying to convince the commissioners to support the package.