Expansion at Corixa brings promise of 150 new jobs

Planned expansion of Corixa Corp.’s biotech company in Hamilton could add
more than 100 jobs to the Bitterroot Valley in the next several years, according
to company officials.

By JENNY JOHNSON Staff Reporter

What does that mean to Bitterroot Valley residents? Betty Davis says it means
more good-paying jobs, more people on the tax roles and more money being
spent in the local economy.

Davis is the executive director of the Ravalli County Economic Development
Authority and has worked to keep Corixa in Hamilton while the company has
been courted by other states to relocate.

"(Corixa) is a biotech company," she said. "That’s the type of company we want
in the valley – high paying and providing opportunity for people in the area."

Corixa develops immunotherapeutics and sponsors research and manufacturing
at its Hamilton facility while headquartered in Seattle, Wash. Formerly known as
Ribi Immunochem, Corixa employs more than 100 people and projections are to
add another 150 employees if the company decides to house a new
manufacturing plant in Hamilton, according to Chuck Richardson, vice president
of Corixa Montana.

"Hamilton is our preferred location," he said. "We need to expand our
manufacturing because of increased orders."

Expecting corporate approval, Corixa officials are planning a $58 million
expansion in two phases at its site northeast of Hamilton, Davis said. With the
help of city, county and state officials, Corixa is working on the planning
components of expansion. First, the company needs city water and sewer,
Richardson said. Other concerns range from personal and business taxes to
finding an educated and highly motivated work force, Richardson said.

The Ravalli County Economic Development Authority and the city of Hamilton
have lined up federal and state grants to pay for extending city water and sewer
to Corixa, and a part of that money will include business training designed for
local residents.

"They will bring in some people who have expertise," Davis said. "But there is
some money for getting people (from Hamilton) involved in the company."

And in a county where the per-capita annual income is $19,000, jobs that
average $40,000 per year are a major improvement.

While the facility now houses manufacturing, research and development and a
small amount of administrative offices, Richardson said, the expansion would be
solely for manufacturing. The planned expansion would create 52 jobs in the next
two years, according to Corixa officials.

Current projections put 16 of those jobs on the production line, each one of those
employees earning about $36,000 a year. Other positions include production
support, qualitative control and analysis, maintenance, validation, supervisory,
administration, security and information technology support. Salaries range from
$22,000 to $50,000 for those position.

And those new jobs will result in an estimated $1.3 million per year stimulus to
the economy, according to Corixa officials. Those new employees would turn
around and create another $2.9 million in sales and pay a projected $130,000 in
taxes.

More Corixa jobs would be created in the following years if the expansion begins
as planned, with full production capabilities in five years, Richardson said. And
with the expansion of the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a biological research
facility of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Ravalli
County may develop a cluster of biotech jobs, Davis said.

"Any time you can create a cluster of a kind of company, other companies might
look at locating nearby," she said.

Similar companies can share resources and network when looking for trained
people, supplies and other items, Davis said.

While plans to expand the company’s Hamilton facility are underway, corporate
officials have yet to finalize the project, Richardson said. He said he is talking
with state officials about what the company can do for Montana business
development.

"We need to work together with the state and university systems to make sure
people are ready to work for us," he said. "That’s a statewide problem. The other
thing the state needs to deal with is the state isn’t very business friendly on
many levels."

Richardson said drawbacks due to personal and business taxes, infrastructure
for transportation and educational readiness are considerations in the company’s
decision.

"Our obligations are to shareholders, employees and patients," Richardson said.
"Everyone is going to benefit from whatever we do."

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