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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Renaissance RX Invests $8 Million In New Orleans, Louisiana, Headquarters Hub

09/30/2014
Renaissance RX, the biomedical company, will make an $8 million capital investment to establish its headquarters in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, creating at least 425 new jobs.

The company, which now employs 80 in the New Orleans area, will consolidate its operations into a larger 30,000-square-foot building at 301 St. Charles Avenue from smaller spaces at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center and offices on LaSalle Avenue and Poydras Street in New Orleans.

Pairing toxicology lab results with DNA tests, the company provides pharmacogenetic testing revealing how individual patients respond to specific medications, based upon their genetic makeup. The results allow physicians to prescribe the precise medications and dosages that will work best for each patient.

The New Orleans expansion will enable the company to quickly scale up its headquarters and laboratory functions to support rapidly growing demand for Renaissance RX’s personalized medicine services, Louisiana Economic Development officials said.

“Over the next decade, personalized medicine will be common practice,” said the firm’s CEO/Founder Dr. Tarun Jolly. “We will live in a world where virtually all healthcare decisions will consider a person’s genetics, and we are setting out to position New Orleans as the center for molecular excellence. By doing this, we’re creating better jobs and retaining local talent in Louisiana and improving health outcomes for patients across the country. The State of Louisiana has created an extremely conducive environment for new businesses by offering unrivaled programs, including LED FastStart workforce training programs and tax incentives for creating quality jobs.”

To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered a competitive incentive package that includes a $925,000 performance-based grant to defray headquarters and laboratory expansion costs, with the grant to be paid in five annual installments of $185,000 each. In addition, Renaissance RX will receive the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart – the nation’s No. 1-ranked state workforce development program – and the company is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs Program.

LED Secretary Stephen Moret said, “New Orleans is becoming known as the greatest comeback city of the 21st century in America. The city is experiencing rapid growth in its high-tech sector, health care, entrepreneurship and trade-related commerce. The remarkable growth of homegrown Renaissance RX adds yet another significant economic development win in our state, which has outperformed the South and U.S. in employment growth since January 2008. The company’s expansion plan offers the promise of hundreds more professional jobs in the biomedical sector of New Orleans.”

“Renaissance RX is a perfect example of why the bio-innovation and health services cluster is one of the five targets of ProsperityNOLA and of the important role NOBIC plays in growing local businesses,” said Melissa Ehlinger, Interim President/CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance. “This locally grown startup is now having the multiplier effect ProsperityNOLA envisions. Not only are they creating hundreds of high-wage jobs in the city, their purchase of local goods and services will ripple throughout the New Orleans economy.”

Greater New Orleans President/CEO Michael Hecht said. “The growth of Renaissance RX is clear evidence that our region is primed to become a hub for medical research commercialization.”

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