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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Evonik Expands Lafayette, Indiana, Operations

06/03/2022
Evonik, a global provider of drug delivery technologies, plans to expand its production facility in Lafayette, Indiana. The $220 million project is expected to create 80 jobs by the end of 2025.

The complex, located at 1650 Lilly Road, will be one of the largest sites for active pharmaceutical ingredients and Evonik's second-largest site in the U.S. employing 650 people. The expansion will allow the rapid and flexible production of a variety of lipids that may serve future applications of mRNA technology in infectious disease control, cancer immunotherapy, protein replacement and gene therapy. The additional space also ensures a rapid and extensive supply of lipids to fuel the continuing battle against COVID-19.

“With this investment in lipid production, we are further expanding our leading position on the global market and specifically strengthening our Health Care business,” said Evonik CEO Christian Kullmann. “It supports our strategic transformation into ‘Next Generation Evonik’, contributing value-added solutions with superior environmental and socio-economic profiles to our customers.”

Pending approval by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) board of directors, the IEDC will commit an investment in Evonik Corporation of up to $2.1 million in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $250,000 in conditional training grants. The IEDC will also offer up to $3 million from the Hoosier Business Investment (HBI) tax credit program based on the company’s planned capital investment in Indiana. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired and trained. The Greater Lafayette Commerce and Duke Energy offered additional incentives.

The company also received up to $150 million in funding for this project from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. BARDA promotes the advanced development of medical countermeasures to respond to 21st century health security threats.

“Indiana is increasingly a leader in medical innovation due to the clustering of quality companies like Evonik that bring high wages and future-focused industry to our state," said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers.

Evonik Industries AG is headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The company is the second-largest chemicals company in Germany, and one of the largest specialty chemicals companies in the world.

“Evonik’s strategic expansion at Tippecanoe is fantastic news for the entire Greater Lafayette region,” said Scott Walker, president and CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce. “The town of Shadeland, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, the Purdue Research Foundation and Greater Lafayette Commerce all supported this effort and not only look forward to the high-value jobs it will create, but also the important role the new Lipid Center of Excellence will play in our nation’s vaccine preparedness.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Evonik supplied lipids to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination campaigns worldwide. The company has been supplying global pharmaceutical companies with the lipids needed for use with mRNA active ingredients.

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