A major medical company announced Thursday that it plans to build a production center east of Atlanta that will bring more than 1,500 jobs to the state.
It would be one of the biggest economic development boosts for Georgia in the past decade and comes as the state’s job recovery lags the nation’s.
The company is Baxter International, a Deerfield, Ill.-based maker of vaccines, treatment for blood disorders and medical devices.
Baxter said Thursday morning that the manufacturing site will create more than 1,500 full-time positions in Georgia.
The new facility will make plasma-based treatments for immune disorders, trauma and other ailments.
The company expects to invest more than $1 billion over the next five years in support of the project.
Construction will begin this year. Production is expected to begin in 2018.
“This investment demonstrates our long-term commitment to patients around the world who rely on our plasma-based therapies,” said Robert Parkinson, Baxter International chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
Gov. Nathan Deal hailed the project as a milestone for the state.
“Baxter’s decision to come to Georgia marks a new era in the growth of our biosciences industry and will have far-reaching impact on our economy,” Deal said.
The plant site is in Stanton Springs, a planned mixed-use development, along I-20 near the town of Social Circle, about 40 miles from downtown Atlanta. Stanton Springs includes more than 1,600 acres. Developer TPA Realty Services has proposed retail, residential, light industrial and office uses.
The year has started with several economic development coups for Georgia. In February, heavy equipment maker Caterpillar announced a plant in Athens that is expected to create 1,400 direct jobs and could lure 2,800 jobs from Caterpillar suppliers to Georgia and surrounding states. Toyota Industries and children’s apparel maker Carter’s Inc. are among other major firms to announce new facilities in the state.
Georgia has lost out in years past to the Research Triangle in North Carolina, Boston and the Bay Area in California in efforts to attract medical technology and bioscience firms.
Deal has made recruiting manufacturing jobs to Georgia a top priority.
Annie Hunt Burriss, director of economic development for Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta, said bioscience is one of the seven key industries that Georgia has been pursuing. But she was speaking generally about recruitment and would not comment on any specific companies targeted.
She described bioscience as providing “the jobs of the future.”
“These kinds of industries require a well-educated knowledge worker,” she said.
The location Baxter has chosen is within a 90 minute drive of the University of Georgia, Mercer University in Macon, metro Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Morehouse College, and Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta.
It is also important to be near transportation hubs, as biomedical products often must be shipped quickly.
Baxter has an 80-year history in medical technology. It makes products to help patients with bleeding and immune disorders. It also makes vaccines and products to help treat kidney disease, as well as to help heal surgical wounds.
Baxter officials have said in recent conferences with financial analysts that they were scouting for a development site given the success of its immune-deficiency treatments.
Baxter has production sites in 27 countries and more than 48,000 employees. Sixty percent of Baxter’s revenue is generated outside the U.S., according the company’s website and annual earnings report.
The announcement Thursday was paired with Baxter’s financial results for the first quarter of 2012. Baxter posted profit of $588 million, up 3 percent from the first quarter a year ago, including special items. Baxter also reported global sales of $3.4 billion, also up 3 percent.
