Biotech firm GRAIL to invest $103M for Durham facility, adding hundreds of jobs

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DURHAM — Biotech firm GRAIL, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, has promised to invest at least $103 million to build a 200,000-square-foot “state-of-the art” laboratory in Durham.

It will include an office and warehouse space in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.

The uptick: the addition of some 400 jobs to the local economy over four years — with an average salary of $71,000.

“Even in tough economic times, companies like GRAIL see that North Carolina is ready to support the life sciences sector with a strong workforce,” said Governor Cooper, in a statement. “North Carolina had a solid foundation for job growth before the virus, and that will make the road to recovery faster in the coming months.”

GRAIL is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early. It is using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and computer and data science to enhance the scientific understanding of cancer biology, and develop a multi-cancer early detection blood test.

Since early 2016, GRAIL has raised more than $1.9 billion in four rounds of equity financing to pursue reducing cancer mortality worldwide through multi-cancer early detection.

GRAIL’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today.

Over the course of 12 years, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by $1.2 billion. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $5.2 million over 12 years.

“Durham’s momentum in economic development continues to build, despite the challenges brought on by the coronavirus,” said N.C. Senator Natalie Murdock. “GRAIL’s decision to locate this major facility in the Research Triangle Park brings new jobs and new economic opportunities to our region.”

Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System and its N.C. BioNetwork, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Durham County, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, Duke University, Alamance Community College, Durham Tech, Wake Tech, the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, and Duke Energy.

 

Original Article Source: WRAL TechWire