RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Lower operating costs to make pharmaceutical products are increasing the Triangle’s appeal as a site for drug and biotech firm expansion as pressure grows to drive down product prices, says John Boyd, CEO of the Boyd Company which is a site selection advisory firm.

“Operating costs have always been important for life-sciences site selection, but they’ve never been as important as they are now, as the industry focuses on price reduction. Many of our pharma clients see site selection as a preferred market-based way to reduce operating costs,” Boyd told BioPharm International in a story for its April issue.

The Triangle already is ranked as one of the top hubs for life science firms in the US.

“The Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina offers the lowest operating costs of any US location, Boyd says, and boasts the presence of some leading universities such as Duke, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State,” the magazine reports.

“Eli Lilly recently selected Raleigh as the location for a new $474-million, 462-employee facility to manufacture injectable and other diabetes therapies.”

Read the full story online as reprinted by the N.C. Biotechnology Center.