Work starts on Indiana center for drug-delivery tech
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Gov. Eric Holcomb joined a company’s executives Wednesday to break ground on a facility that could make the medicine go down better.
Drug-delivery tech provider Evonik says in a news release that its Lipid Innovation Center will allow “future growth in novel mRNA-based therapies beyond COVID-19 vaccines.”
Pharmaceutical experts say lipids can be used to adjust drug dosages, rates and absorption.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is a molecule used in a vaccine instead of bacteria or viruses.
Evonik will spend $220 million on its center. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Servies will provide $150 million.
When production begins in 2025, the lipid facility will have created 80 jobs and provided 300 contractor positions, the company says in a news release.
The company already employs 680 people at its Tippecanoe County site, and 150 contractors assist with maintenance and logistics.
The center is being built on the company’s site on Lilly Road near the banks of the Wabash River, which is just west of the intersection of U.S. 52/U.S. 231 and State Road 25. That’s across the river from the Purdue University Airport.