When India's Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said two weeks ago that it had decided on Union, NC, for its first production operation in North America, it didn't say just how much the company intended to invest. It turns out the plant is expected to cost more than $15 million and that taxpayers in the state will ante up a sizable chunk of that.

The Indian drugmaker announced July 17 that its first U.S. facility would include three units spread over 100,000 square feet to manufacture solids, injectables and topicals, with the facility for solids being up first. It expects the construction of all three units to be complete within 5 years.

"The U.S. is a key strategic market for Glenmark and it is important for us to have a manufacturing base here to serve our growing business in the country," Glenn Saldanha, Glenmark chairman, said in a statement. Glenmark currently does about $65 million worth of business in the U.S.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Glenmark is investing about $17 million in the new facility but will get about $1 million in a grab bag of incentives from the city, county and state to help it cover some costs. For example, the city is selling the drugmaker a 102,000-square-foot building for $2.96 million, a $625,500 discount on its $3.58 million appraised value.

The county is making a $340,000 grant over 5 years, while the state will provide about $61,500 for college training for workers. In return, the company pledged at least 41 jobs in the first three years. An economic development official said the deal was negotiated in 5 weeks, the fastest he has seen a deal coalesce in his 20 years of eco-devo work.

The company already had 14 manufacturing facilities in India, Brazil, Argentina and the Czech Republic and recently opened a mAb manufacturing facility in Switzerland to feed its pipeline of monoclonal antibodies and biosimilars.