Denmark-based Novo Nordisk, the world’s leading diabetes care company, will embark on a $65 million expansion of its diabetes product manufacturing center at its campus in Clayton, North Carolina.

“We’re pleased to call Johnson County our home, and greatly appreciate the trust and partnership the Board of Commissioners and community have given us,” said Chad Henry, Corporate Vice President & General Manager of Clayton’s Diabetes Finished Products site. “The inspiration that drives us to provide innovative care for our patients is matched by our enduring commitment to bringing jobs and economic growth to our community.”

According to Johnston County Economic Development, the pharmaceutical company currently employs over 1,000 manufacturing workers in Johnston County. The company expects to hire almost two dozen additional employees to staff as it expands its Diabetes Finished Products Facility. The Center is responsible for the formulation, filling, inspection, assembly and packaging of diabetes and obesity medicines.

The expansion comes less than two years after the company broke ground on a $2 billion facility nearby that will produce Diabetes Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (DAPI) for a range of current and future type 2 diabetes medications and insulins. That facility will employ an additional 700 bio-manufacturing workers.

“Johnston County is proud to have been part of Novo Nordisk’s growth and success for the past 25 years, and today’s announcement underscores our place at the heart of the company’s global business strategy,” said Jeffrey Carver, chairman of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners.

The board unanimously approved an agreement that will provide up to $1.9 million in performance-based grants in support of the expansion over the coming 13 years.

Novo Nordisk’s DFPF in Clayton dates to 1993. In 2010, it launched a 120-job expansion there as part of a business partnership with Nypro, Inc. The company’s $2 billion DAPI facility, announced in August 2015 and believed to be North Carolina’s largest-ever industrial investment, is on track to be complete by 2021.

“There’s little risk of over-stating the importance of Novo Nordisk to Johnston County’s economy and indeed that of the Research Triangle Region,” said Cheryl Oliver, Chairman of the Johnston County Economic Development Advisory Committee.

“But it’s not simply a case of dollars and cents,” she added. “The company plays a vital role in our community through a variety of partnerships, sponsorships and volunteerism programs.”

Novo Nordisk collaborates closely with Johnston Community College and Johnston County Public Schools, for example, in life sciences curricula at the Johnston County Workforce Center, a 30,000-sq.-ft. training facility built on land the company donated to the county. It is also the naming sponsor of the Town of Clayton’s 600-seat multi-purpose performing arts and events venue.