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Big money for big pharma

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Illinois

Apparently, he smacks them with one hand and gives them money with the other.

Despite his public criticism of the drug industry’s pricing practices, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been showering Illinois pharmaceutical companies with tens of millions of dollars in grants and tax breaks to help them expand their operations in Illinois.

Blagojevich’s office on Wednesday announced its latest round of incentives: $15 million in tax credits, job training money and other grants to Japan’s largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. The company will use the money to assist with an expansion here and relocate from offices in Lincolnshire to a new, larger U.S. headquarters in north suburban Deerfield.

It’s the fourth time in the last seven months Blagojevich, through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, has awarded certain incentives to drugmakers. In all, nearly $40 million in incentives are being awarded to Takeda; Lake Forest-based drug and device maker Hospira Inc.; Deerfield-based Astellas Pharma U.S. Inc.; and the Illinois Technology Innovation Campus, a proposed redevelopment of the vacant G.D. Searle & Co. drug research facility in Skokie into a biotech center.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 7, 05 @ 6:48 am

Comments

DCEO Director Jack Lavin continues to make great gains. These pharmaceutical wins are huge! Keep up the great work, Jack!

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 7, 05 @ 10:47 pm
FROM: Anonymous, please.

COMMENT: How can these handouts to enormous pharmaceutical companies be called a “win”? The governor honks off these big drug companies with his actions and the only results he has received , besides owing millions for unused flu shots, are that these companies have threaten to leave Illinois. In order to placate the companies (and covering his behind) large chunks of free cash are tossed at these corporations so they will keep their jobs and facilities in Illinois.

It seems to me that the companies are the ones who scored the big win.

Comment by Rich Miller Sunday, Apr 10, 05 @ 10:06 pm
The administration gets criticized for doing too much, the administration gets criticized for doing too little.

Any way you look at it, if you do the math of what these jobs bring in dollars and cents into the Illinois economy, these are definitely wins.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 12, 05 @ 12:10 am
Maybe, but if GRod had kept his immature self serving mouth shut in the first place there wouldn’t be a need for the corporate wefare. Playing the emotional hot button as he always does actually cost the state dollars in this instance.

The money lost to these companies could have been used for “education, the children, the elderly” or maybe to help BALANCE the budget. Oh, I forgot. The budget isn’t GRod’s problem. It is the previous administrations problem.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 12, 05 @ 2:34 pm