TransTech Pharma is considering incentives deals from other states, raising the possibility that the darling of the Triad’s biotech effort might bail out of High Point. Cone wonders if enough is being done to keep the company here.
If $250,000 in incentives and a fawning business media doesn’t keep TransTech Pharma from playing the Triad off other locations, then forget them, man. Sound simplistic? No more simplistic than a major reason CEO Adnan Mjalli gave (cited twice by the Business Journal’s Justin Catanoso) for his disaffection with High Point:
Mjalli appears disappointed with the state of the Triad’s biotech effort, arguing that it is not truly regional in nature and perhaps too focused on Winston-Salem. A bothersome example of that, he says, was when no company or individual achievements from High Point were recognized at the second Triad BioNight in March.
“High Point has a much bigger health care (R&D) cluster than any other city in the region, with (companies like) Banner Pharmacaps and Merz and Ciba,” Mjalli says. “By not recognizing not just TransTech but any biotech company in High Point, it just does this community and the Triad a disservice.”
I realize it’s a bit more complicated than that, considering TransTech’s ambitious expansion plans, which include the purchase of land, something that isn’t always easy around here. But the bottom line, as the Business Journal notes, is any incentives package the Triad can muster would more than likely “pale in comparison to what South Carolina, and possibly Virginia, are preparing to offer.”
Of course, it’s not just about the money, Mjalli adds. But it sure seems pretty important in this case. And sometimes it’s just never enough. Maybe Triad leaders ought to realize that and just wave bye-bye.
