A California drug company has broken ground on its pharmaceutical manufacturing and research facility outside of Madison where it will invest up to $250 million and create 250 jobs.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ARWR) of Pasadena, California, was awarded $16 million in tax incremental financing support and $2.5 million in refundable tax credit from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for the project. Arrowhead is building an approximately 140,000-square-foot drug manufacturing facility and an approximately 115,000-square-foot laboratory and office facility to support process development and analytical activities.
The company purchased 13 acres in the Verona Technology Park in Verona for the facilities late last year.
Arrowhead said at the time of the land purchase that it intends to invest between $200 million and $250 million into the buildout of the facilities. It expects that the new facilities will result in the creation of about 250 new jobs in the area.
The project marks an expansion of Arrowhead's presence in the Madison area. Arrowhead in 2011 acquired RNA therapeutics assets and a research facility in Madison from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche.
"These new facilities will help support the development, and ultimately the commercialization, of potentially important new medicines that leverage the natural RNAi pathway to target genes involved in various diseases,” said Christopher Anzalone, Arrowhead’s president and CEO.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers attended the Monday groundbreaking in Verona.
“In the last few years, Wisconsin has been recognized as a powerhouse not just for discovering the latest advances in biopharmaceutical research and development but in manufacturing and producing these lifesaving treatments as well,” said Evers, according to a press release. “That means that companies like Arrowhead can research new therapies for debilitating diseases, bring them to market, and manufacture them all right here in Wisconsin."
The project team for the Verona facility includes Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA), along with DPS Group, D’Onofrio Kottke & Associates, Smocke & Associates, Cresa Madison, and Vogel Brothers Building Co.
Completion of the lab and office space is anticipated in the first quarter of 2023 and completion of the manufacturing facility is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023.
