SANFORD — Drug giant Pfizer is expanding its North Carolina manufacturing plant for gene-therapy medicines to treat rare diseases, adding about 300 jobs.
The New York City-based company said Wednesday it plans to spend about $500 million to expand its plant in Sanford to improve production of the highly specialized drugs to treat diseases caused by genetic mutation. The plant’s 650 employees now also produce components for Pfizer’s vaccines.
North Carolina business recruiters said when Pfizer announced a 2017 expansion that the Sanford plant was building on gene-therapy technology first developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. State officials said Pfizer bought a Chapel Hill biotechnology company developing gene therapies for patients with rare diseases related to neuromuscular and central nervous system conditions.