BioPort gets $6.3M state tax break
By Jeremy W. Steele
Lansing State Journal
BioPort Corp. is a step closer to a $75 million expansion of its north Lansing complex now that state officials have approved a $6.3 million tax break.
But Kim Brennen Root, spokeswoman for the anthrax vaccine maker, said Tuesday the company could not commit to the project until Lansing acts on a proposed tax break valued at more than $9 million.
City officials are negotiating with BioPort about a 50 percent tax break for up to 15 years on its building improvements and new equipment, said Bob Trezise, manager of the Lansing Economic Development Corp.
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"It is a highly unique and 21st century-like company, like the type that we'd like to inspire here in the Lansing area," Trezise said. "They can go other places in the country."
The expansion would include building the first vaccine manufacturing facility of its kind in the Midwest. The new operation would allow BioPort to make a variety of vaccines. Currently, only the company's anthrax vaccine is made in Lansing.
Without the tax breaks, the state stands to lose all 322 jobs at BioPort's Lansing facility. The average weekly wage of those workers is $1,058, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The company also is considering Gaithersburg, Md., the home of parent company Emergent BioSolutions Inc., for an expansion.
Most U.S. vaccine makers are concentrated on the nation's coasts.
"We really think we have a unique vision for this part of the country," Brennen Root said. "We would have the potential to do a number of different products. They could include both biodefense and commercial vaccines."
Although BioPort has an important Defense Department contract for its main product, its anthrax vaccine could soon become obsolete.
A competitor's product, now in clinical trials, is the main choice of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for its national stockpile to protect against a terrorist attack.
"It's incredibly important to us competitively," Brennen Root said of the new facility. "It's an investment that we need to make from a competitive standpoint."
If it chooses Lansing, BioPort would build new manufacturing facilities on its 13-acre compound on North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
That would give the company space for pilot plant capability for vaccines in development and large-scale manufacturing. Its equipment now allows for only small-scale manufacturing.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation Tuesday allowing a Single Business Tax credit to be offered to the vaccine maker. The Michigan Economic Growth Authority board approved the 10-year tax credit Tuesday, as well.
Contact Jeremy W. Steele at 377-1015 or jwsteele@lsj.com.
