RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – California-based Gilead Sciences, which makes the COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, announced Tuesday that it plans to open a major hub in the Triangle.

The move will bring 275 jobs paying an average wage of $142,175 to Wake County. The average annual wage in Wake County is about $63,500.

The Gilead Business Services center will be home to the company’s human resources, procurement and financial services operations, along with cybersecurity and other information technology roles.

“We look forward to introducing Gilead to the local community,” Andrew Dickinson, Gilead’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. “We are eager to welcome many of the highly talented, highly skilled people who live in the Research Triangle region to work with us as we seek to advance new medicines for people with unmet medical needs.”

“They are moving a lot of their operations roles to our market, so that is a great indicator for our ability to grow our life-sciences market here. We’re not just recruiting scientists and manufacturers,” said Ashley Cagle, assistant executive director of Wake County Economic Development. “This is a reminder that, even though we are struggling with a global pandemic, there are good things happening in our community.”

The Wake County portion of RTP was chosen over Atlanta for the facility, with the company citing availability, diversity and cost of talent needed to fill the promised jobs.

“Obviously, we want businesses that are responding to the pandemic to thrive, and we’re glad they can do that here,” said Matt Calabria, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

Calabria pegged Gilead’s local economic impact at $39 million a year.

“We’re always glad to catch a big fish like this,” he said.

Another factor in the Triangle’s favor: Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill helped develop remdesivir.

The company will receive some $10 million in tax incentives through a Job Development Investment grant, which rebates part of the state withholding taxes if annual job creation and investment targets are met. Job training also will be provided.

Gilead plans to invest some $5 million in creating the hub. The new jobs will be created by 2023.

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