With $140 Million State Incentives, Regeneron Expanding in New York and Adding 1,500 Jobs

Regeneron plans to invest more than $800 million over seven years to expand its facilities in Rensselaer County, New York. This expansion is expected to create 1,500 new full-time jobs.

Regeneron plans to invest more than $800 million over seven years to expand its facilities in Rensselaer County, New York. This expansion is expected to create 1,500 new full-time jobs.

The investment is to expand its existing laboratory, manufacturing and warehouse space in East Greenbush. The company currently employs more than 2,500 people in the county.

The state of New York is offering the company up to $140 million in incentives, including $70 million in Excelsior Job Program tax credits. The tax credits are contingent on the company hitting its investment and job targets.

It’s not the first time Regeneron has received incentives from New York State. The first was in 1989, when it received $250,000 via Empire State Development. And earlier this year, Regeneron and New York announced a public-private research collaboration to focus on prevention, detection and treatment of tick-borne diseases, beginning with Lyme disease.

The Daily Gazette reports, “Regeneron and the state Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratory will jointly research how the bacteria Borelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, replicates itself through a tick bite, and how the human host’s immune system responds.”

That collaboration is expected to last at least five years, with Regeneron investing up to $48 million, with 50 percent reimbursement through New York’s Life Sciences Initiative. The Life Sciences Initiative is a $620 million campaign to develop the state as a world-class life-science research cluster.

Regeneron headquarters are in Tarrytown, New York, north of New York City. The company employs approximately 5,400 of its more than 6,500 employees in New York, with the rest in New Jersey and Ireland.

“New York is proud to be at the forefront of the life sciences industry and the home of global biotech leaders like Regeneron,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a statement. “The continued growth of Regeneron here in New York is yet another indication that we are leading the way in the life sciences and attracting the jobs of tomorrow. Regeneron’s expansion will further drive economic growth in the Capital Regions and fuel lifesaving innovation and development that benefits the entire world,”

The Times Union reports that, this new expansion “matches up with plans already underway by Regeneron to build a new warehouse, plus manufacturing, office and lab space at a second campus the company is building in East Greenbush, not far from its current campus next to the University at Albanys Health Sciences Campus. The second campus is located on Tempel Lane, which is closer to I-90, although just a short drive from its current manufacturing facilities next to the UAlbany East Greenbush campus.”

The warehouse in East Greenbush is already under construction. The newer construction includes a parking garage and substation, manufacturing building and science building.

“As our number of approved and investigational medicines continues to grow, our need for world-class manufacturing teams and facilities also increases,” said Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “State incentives, along with other state and federal policies, have helped Regeneron keep and expand our operations in New York State, which will benefit the local economy and help us achieve our mission of bringing new medicines to people with serious diseases.”

MORE ON THIS TOPIC