Manufacturing infrastructure and public-private partnership drive Exelas success in Lenoir.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION

While many biotech companies attracted to North Carolina choose the Research Triangle Park or Wilmington, Exela Pharma Sciences picked Lenoir, population 18,000.

Phanesh Koneru, Exela's founder, says Lenoir's manufacturing legacy and infrastructure drew him in 2008 to this community better known for its mountain heritage than high-tech companies.

"First, there was the availability of manufacturing workforce, albeit not in pharmaceuticals manufacturing. Second is the availability of power, warehousing and transportation infrastructure," he says. The availability of a 20,000-square-foot building equipped with a sterile water system also played a major role.

Exela develops, manufactures and markets injectable and sterile ophthalmic products. Founded in 2005, it opened in Lenoir in 2008. The company now counts about 300 employees, a surge from the 70 in 2015.

Koneru couldn't have chosen a better time than 2008 to come to Lenoir. At the time, Caldwell County's unemployment rate was 17.8 %, thanks to the erosion of the furniture industry that had been a cornerstone of the region's economy.

The Exela founder, a former practicing pharmacist and executive in the generic pharma industry, says public-private partnerships have been crucial to Exela's success in Lenoir.

The company partners with Appalachian State University, Caldwell Community College &amp...