Cambrex to again expand Charles City facility

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Cambrex continues to expand its presence in Charles City, the latest project being a $6.5 million investment that will add an additional 9,000 square feet to the company’s local facility and create what is expected to be 40 additional jobs.

At its monthly meeting held Friday morning, the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Board approved tax benefits and $300,000 in direct financial aid through the state’s High Quality Jobs Program, providing incentives for 39 of the projected 40 jobs to have a qualifying wage of at least $20.58 per hour.

The additional 9,000 square feet will include a new quality control laboratory and administrative space, according to the company’s application to the IEDA.

The Charles City facility is located on a 45-acre property and produces a wide range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and pharmaceutical intermediates, including highly potent molecules and controlled substances, for both the generic and brand-name human pharmaceutical markets. The company said it currently supplies APIs for the treatment of ADHD, smoking cessation, oncology, Crohn’s disease and others.

According to the fiscal year 2021 IEDA report, Cambrex has received state support for five previous expansion projects, in 2006, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020.

The projects represent a total of $148 million in capital investment by Cambrex at the Charles City facility. Those previous five projects received $908,000 in direct economic development funding from the state and $3.1 million in tax benefits, resulting in the creation of at least 160 additional jobs at the Charles City facility.

This latest project will push Cambrex’s total investment in the Charles City site to almost $155 million since 2006.

Cambrex Charles City officially began Oct. 1, 2002, when the former Salsbury Chemicals Inc. – which at that time was owned by Cambrex Corp. – legally changed its name as part of a corporate-wide Cambrex initiative intended to provide additional brand and name recognition, according to Press files.

According to Cambrex, Cambrex Charles City is home to a team of more than 375 employees, and the site comprises four large scale commercial cGMP production plants, as well as a cGMP pilot plant and cGMP kilo laboratory – each with multiple work centers that allow for simultaneous cGMP production at varied scale.

CGMP stands for current good manufacturing practices, and is a regulatory standard for ensuring pharmaceutical quality.

The Cambrex facility is one of a limited number to be authorized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to import narcotic raw materials on a commercial scale, the company said.

Also at the IEDA meeting Friday, the board approved a local property tax exemption in Council Bluffs through the HighQuality Jobs Program to help finance the construction and operations of a Google data center.

The state board’s action enables Council Bluffs to provide a 20-year sliding scale tax abatement that was approved by its City Council on October 10. No new state incentives are planned, but the project will result in $600 million in new capital investment and create 31 jobs at a qualifying wage of $28.73 per hour.