Dive Brief:
- New Jersey will be the next home for the U.S. headquarters of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, a coup for the state's efforts to woo biopharma companies.
- The generic giant will move its North Wales, Pennsylvania, headquarters to the company's existing Parsippany-Troy Hills location to create more centralized operations.
- As a result, the Parsippany-Troy Hills site will expand to almost 350,000 feet and the company will retain 232 existing roles in New Jersey, as well as creating or transferring 843 jobs.
Dive Insight:
New Jersey has long been a key life sciences location. But its attractiveness has dimmed somewhat as biopharmas move plants and jobs to locations closer to the biotech hubs of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Bay Area on the West Coast.
Just last month, for example, French pharma Ipsen moved its U.S. headquarters from northern New Jersey to Cambridge.
New Jersey has set up a number of schemes to attract biopharma back to the state, providing R&D tax credits of 100% of the corporate tax liability, as well as grants and tax exemptions. BioNJ, the state's life sciences trade association, has also played a part, creating and developing grant and funding programs.
Elsewhere, the board of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority this month approved performance-based tax credits through the Grow New Jersey program.
Perhaps Teva's choice is a sign for the future. The consolidation of its U.S. offices was part of the company's "significant restructuring plan to restore its financial security and stabilize its business," a company spokesperson explained in an emailed statement.
"A key element of the plan … was the decision to close or divest a significant number of facilities, headquarters and office locations across geographies. Reducing the number of sites supports Teva's drive to unify and simplify the organization, ensure better integration, improve productivity and efficiencies, and reduce its cost base."
Teva has confirmed that it will retain a significant presence in Pennsylvania, maintaining employment of about 600 employees at the company's R&D facility in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Another approximately 100 staff will stay employed at Teva's operations and distribution services center in the state as well, the spokesperson said.