The biopharmaceutical company Alexion Pharmaceuticals has become the fourth company to take advantage of a state job creation incentive program.
Gov. Dannel Malloy announced the First Five program, which offers in incentive for the first five companies to bring 200 jobs or more to Connecticut, after taking office.
Alexion, a company with its current global headquarters in Cheshire, has outgrown its existing space and will establish its global headquarters at a new facility to be built in New Haven by 2015.
Malloy said the company will relocate its existing Connecticut workforce of more than 350 employees to the facility once it is complete and expects to create 200 to 300 new jobs in the state by 2017.
“Fast-growing companies like Alexion are true engines of economic growth. They attract investments, spur production and jobs in other industries, and improve our overall economy. Their decision to grow here in our state is a major step forward in our larger strategy to establish Connecticut as a world-renowned life sciences hub,” Malloy said.
Alexion’s new facility will expand in downtown New Haven, near the Yale School of Medicine/Yale-New Haven Hospital campus.
“Our new headquarters in New Haven will support the rapid growth of our company as we expand our global mission to transform the lives of patients with severe and life-threatening ultra-rare disorders,” Leonard Bell, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alexion, said. “By combining our research, operational and administrative headquarter functions into a single, state-of-the-art facility within the vibrant New Haven community we will maximize the efficiency of our organization while remaining in Connecticut. We appreciate the Governor’s vision to support the continued growth of New Haven as a major biopharmaceutical hub that will bring hope to patients, innovation to the industry, and drive economic growth in New Haven.”
Alexion was founded in 1992 as a small biopharmaceutical startup in New Haven’s Science Park and moved its headquarters to Cheshire in 2000 when it outgrew its original space.
The state is providing up to $51 million in assistance, a 10-year loan of $20 million at a rate of 1 percent with principal and interest deferred for five years, loan forgiveness of $16 to $20 million based on the creation of 200-300 full-time jobs, a $6 million grant for laboratory construction and equipment and urban and industrial sites reinvestment tax credits of up to $25 million.
Malloy made the announcement on Tuesday morning in the parking lot of 2 Church Street South in New Haven.
Alexion is sponsoring the U.S. Green Building Council Connecticut Chapter annual green building awards later this month.
