Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that Aerocrine Inc., a medical technology company, will locate its North American headquarters in Wake County. The company plans to create 45 jobs and invest $219,000 during the next three years in Morrisville. The project was made possible in part by a $50,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.
“We have built a business climate where future-oriented industries, such as medical technology, can thrive in a global market,” Gov. Perdue said. “And our past investments in education and job training have yielded a top-notch workforce that companies like Aerocrine can count on.”
Aerocrine is a medical technology company focused on improving the treatment of patients with airway diseases like asthma. Measuring airway inflammation helps provide the physician with the means to evaluate an asthma patient’s response to anti-inflammatory therapy. The founders of Aerocrine in Sweden were the first to identify nitric oxide (NO) as a marker of inflammation, which is the main cause of asthma. Aerocrine has taken this significant discovery from laboratory to listed company and is now established in some of the world’s largest markets. The company markets two products globally, NIOX Flex and NIOX MINO, which are used to assist in the diagnosis and control of airways disease.
Salaries will vary by job function, but the average salary for the new positions will be $69,000, plus benefits. The average annual wage in Wake County is $44,980.
“We are excited to be moving our North American headquarters to North Carolina,” said Chip Neff, President of Aerocrine Inc. “The state’s leading position in respiratory disease research and commercialization of cutting edge products was critical in our decision to locate our business in North Carolina.”
The One NC Fund provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state. Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.
“The cluster of biotech and medical industries in the Triangle and North Carolina continues to grow, thanks to the investments we have previously made in education, transportation and infrastructure,” said Sen. Josh Stein, of Wake County. “We must keep these efforts going in order to remain competitive.”
North Carolina continues to have a top-ranked business climate. Through Gov. Perdue’s JobsNOW initiative, the state works aggressively to create jobs, train and retrain its workforce, and lay the foundation for a strong and sustainable economic future.
Through use of the One NC Fund, more than 60,000 jobs and $11 billion in investment have been created since 2001. Other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, N.C. Biotechnology Center, Wake County, Town of Morrisville and the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce.