AveX Biotech Company Creates Jobs in RTP, North Carolina

For the second time in less than a year, AveXis, a clinical-stage gene therapy company that manufactures treatments for spinal muscular atrophy, plans to create 200 jobs in Durham County.

The new jobs would double the company's projected workforce at Research Triangle Park.

If the company meets certain milestones, it will be eligible for a set of incentives from the state of about $ 1.4 million. The incentive should be paid over a period of 12 years.

The AThe average salary is expected to be around $ 73,000, which is above the Durham County average of $ 69,000. The company has announced that it will invest $ 60 million by December 31, 2020.

The company will hire scientists and engineers as well as manufacturing and warehouse positions.

AveXis will also receive $ 320,000 from the state's community college training fund and Durham County is injecting $ 750,000 in local incentives, the state announced at the announcement.

Last year, the company announced that it would create 200 jobs after receiving an incentive program worth nearly $ 3 million from the company. State. The average salary for these jobs was $ 103,449, The News & Observer reported.

"Can we make one every year?" Said Tony Copeland, US Secretary of Commerce, at an announcement regarding jobs at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center on Monday morning.

Last year, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis bought AveXis for $ 8.7 billion, a decision Novartis said was intended to take control of treatment with AVXS-101, a treatment for rare diseases treated for the treatment of rare diseases. The company's product, which is branded zolgensmna, is currently subject to the regulatory approval process of the US Food and Drug Administration.

Spinal muscular atrophy, often called SMA, is a rare genetic disorder that affects the part of the nervous system that controls the voluntary movement of muscles and can lead to death in young children.

AveXis, headquartered in Illinois, chose Durham instead of Illinois and Ireland for the expansion, the same sites that it was competing in last year.

Durham County Commissioner Wendy Jacobs welcomed the expansion as it created new jobs that were not reserved for graduates of higher education. The county has always emphasized the importance of finding a job for all residents of Durham, not just university graduates who have been in the city in recent years.

Twenty-five per cent of jobs do not require a higher degree, she said.