Incyte’s new state-of-the-art research facility in Wilmington is open.
The facility has been in the works for three years and Incyte’s CEO and president Hervé Hoppenot says it will immediately add to the company’s research and clinical development capacity.
“Today we have more than 20 projects at that stage of development where this facility will be used,” said Hoppenot. “So we broke the ground in November 2019 and finished the building in just over 2 years.”
Hoppenot says Gov. John Carney’s transparency regarding COVID guidelines in the state helped the building get completed in a timely manner and under the projected budget. The project employed about 300 people locally during construction.
The Wilmington-based pharmaceutical company’s new facility offers 4 floors of lab space for work primarily focused on research and clinical development.
That work has produced Pemazyre, the first targeted therapy for cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer.
It’s a treatment that helped cancer survivor’s like Janice Meyer - who joined officials like Gov. John Carney in marking the facility’s opening on Monday.
“Cholangiocarcinoma patients saw hope when in 2020, Pemazyre, developed right here at Incyte, became the first FDA approved targeted drug for cholangiocarcinoma, whose patients had been previously treated and who had an abnormal FGFR2 gene,” explained Meyer. “The patients in fact were so grateful that we as patients put up a billboard to say just that, right before the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Thank you Incyte, and congratulations on your one year anniversary. It is believed to be the first time that a patient group has ever publicly thanked a drug company.”
Governor Carney echoed Meyer’s emphasis on the importance of Incyte’s work, making note that their drug development is one of the reasons Delaware is proud to host their new facility.
“Because Jan clearly told us why we’re here. And in part it's to cut a ribbon on a building, but mostly it's about a company of wonderful scientists and people who help folks like this,” Carney said. “And that’s a really, really big deal. And that's why this is a really really big deal for the state of Delaware.”
Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester also praised the pharmaceutical company for their focus on the research and development of treatments for rare diseases, like vitiligo and alopecia, that greatly impact the lives of those living with them.
The new building will house about 440 employees at capacity, contributing to Incyte’s approximately 1,000 locally-based employees.
The company also took the opportunity today to extend their local impact by extending the Incyte Cancer Care Assistance Fund for Delaware, which helps provide emergency cancer care assistance to patients, the families, and caregivers in Delaware. Incyte will now contribute up to $200,000 each year through the Incyte Charitable Giving Foundation.
