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A Swiss-based drugmaker plans to double the size of its Indianapolis manufacturing plant, which produces nuclear medicine imaging and therapy products for cancer, in a move that would create 55 jobs with an average wage of $95,000.
Novartis Manufacturing LLC told a committee of the City-County Council on Monday evening that it plans to spend up to $125 million to construct and equip a 79,000-square-foot-building for radiopharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution on the city’s west side.
The move is a sudden ramp-up for the company. Just four months ago, Novartis got permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin commercial manufacturing at the site of a drug called Pluvicto, which is used to treat advanced-stage prostate cancer. The plant, which broke ground in 2020, went online shortly afterward.
The company expects growing demand for medicines that combine targeting compounds with radioisotopes to treat cancer.
Nuclear medicine is one of the hottest sectors in health care, and Indianapolis is emerging as top site. Companies as far away as France, Switzerland and Israel have invested billions of dollars in radiopharmaceutical manufacturing assets in central Indiana. They are attracted by the region’s central location, workforce talent and long history in pharmaceutical drug-making.
In the initial phase, Novartis spent about $169 million to build and equip a 73,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility and laboratory on 16.6 acres of undeveloped land in the Purdue Research Park at Ameriplex Certified Technology Park, near the Indianapolis International Airport in Decatur Township.
It originally planned to create 26 jobs at the facility, but that number has expanded to 170, with an average wage of $100,000.
The company is now seeking tax abatements worth about $4.54 million for the real estate and $2.67 million for the equipment. Both abatement periods would be six years. The new building would be built just west of the original building at 8520 Challenger Drive.
The council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee voted 11-0 to advance the abatement request to the full council, which next meets June 3.
The company said the expansion would create 55 new jobs by 2026, with an average wage of $95,000.
In all, the manufacturing site would employ about 225 people at an average wage of nearly $100,000 and represent a total capital investment of about $300 million, the company said.
The Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development recommended the abatement, pointing out that during the abatement period, the company would pay $4.1 million in property and equipment taxes. After the abatement period expires, Novartis could expect to pay an estimated $2.33 million a year in property and equipment taxes.
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