Rx Central: Central Indiana is becoming a national center for pharmaceutical distribution.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy
• Position: LIFE SCIENCES

DON'T CONFUSE INDIANA'S recent good news in attracting high-paying jobs in the pharmaceutical distribution sector with good luck. The old adage "you reap what you sow" comes to mind here. Economic development efforts involve laying a lot of groundwork, having the right elements in place and knowing how to sell them, and being nimble enough to beat out the other guy.

In just three to four years, Indiana will reap 2,600 jobs from three companies. Indiana's own WellPoint opened its PrecisionRx Specialty Solutions pharmacy last summer, Arcadia HealthCare moved its headquarters to Indianapolis in October and will establish a single-dose drug packaging facility here this year. In the sector's latest coup, New Jersey-based Medco Health Solutions announced last month that its newest and largest automated pharmacy operation will be built in Boone County.

"All three of those big wins had a lot to do with constantly improving the business environment in the State of Indiana," says Nate Feltman, CEO of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. "In other words, we are more competitive than all our surrounding states when it comes to the cost of doing business, overall tax rates and our regulatory structure." The state's Pharmacy Board "moved at the speed of light," to adopt the regulations necessary for Medco to operate here, nudging Kentucky out of the running, Feltman says. The state's extensive Interstate system, its trained workforce, two schools of pharmacy, the second-largest FedEx hub and the expansion at Indianapolis International Airport were all big factors to Medco, he says, noting they were more important than Indiana's offer of $18 million in cash incentives, which was topped by Kentucky's offer of $30 million.

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"We have a very strong job base in this sector," says David Johnson, president and CEO BioCrossroads, Indianapolis. "It's the ninth-largest biopharma part of the country, actually, in the Indianapolis MSA." BioCrossroads was invited into the wooing process for Medco, as it has been invited in for other prospects. "We were sought out early by the Indy Partnership and by the IEDC to help them make the case for Indiana," says Johnson. Brian Stemme, a project director at BioCrossroads, previously worked at Lilly and is knowledgeable about specialty pharma, he notes. "You can't buy expertise like that. We had someone who really understood their business and could make a very compelling case."

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