Novartis Holly Springs Campus to Expand

 The $1 billion Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics campus in Holly Springs will be growing again.

Gov. Bev Perdue has announced that the world's first large-scale factory for producing flu vaccine using the techniques of cell culture will be adding a $36 million, 100-employee development lab and pilot plant.

The use of cell culture rather than growing vaccines in poultry eggs will permit faster scale-up if needed to combat a pandemic or bioterror attack.

The 350 employees at the original 430,000-square-foot manufacturing facility are expected to start producing federally approved vaccines by 2013.

 “Once again, a top international company is bringing well-paying jobs to North Carolina,” said Gov. Perdue. “Novartis has transformed the economic base for Holly Springs and now is expanding in that fast-growing area. Companies like Novartis know the value of our state’s skilled workforce, thanks to our investments in education and worker training.”

Novartis, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, employs more than 100,000 people in more than 140 countries. The new development lab and pilot plant in Holly Springs will contain research and development facilities and equipment plus the pilot plant for clinical manufacturing.

“We chose the Holly Springs location for this important project because of the great talent pool to recruit from, proximity to area universities and the relationship we have with our neighbors in the state, county and town of Holly Springs”, said Matthew Stober, Novartis’ global head of technical operations.

Novartis said the average wage for the 100 new jobs will be $106,200 a year, not including benefits. The Wake County average annual wage is $42,692.