Slow progress prods PPD to depart project.

• Position: Charlotte - Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc.

A year ago, Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. CEO Fred Eshelman couldn't have been more effusive in his praise for the North Carolina Research Campus, which billionaire David Murdock is developing in Kannapolis. "After meeting with Mr. Murdock and visiting the campus, I realized this project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where industry and academic scientists can freely collaborate to bring innovations in scientific research to market, increasing the length and quality of human life." To that end, the Wilmington-based drug tester committed to opening an office at the campus that it said would employ as many as 300 within three years.

That was then. As one of Eshelman's final acts as CEO before settling in as executive chairman, he pulled PPD out of the project. The reason: "Progress in developing, constructing and recruiting tenants to the North Carolina Research Campus has been much slower than we expected," spokeswoman Sue Ann Pentecost says. "We understand that this is the result of the economic conditions and the global financial crisis." Key to the decision was a 160,000-square-foot building--or the lack thereof--that PPD was to share with Charlotte-based Carolinas HealthCare System. "Construction of the building we intended to lease has not commenced. As a result, we elected to terminate our lease." The company later announced it had laid off...