Raleigh, N.C. – State House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) greeted President Trump upon his arrival to North Carolina on Monday and accompanied him to tour a Morrisville, N.C. biotech center developing components of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
North Carolina has emerged as a global leader in biotechnology and pharmaceutical development amid a transformation of its state economy, government, and education systems driven by the Republican-led General Assembly.
President Trump and Speaker Moore toured the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ Innovation center in Morrisville, N.C.
The North Carolina facility employs 500 workers with 2,500 employees worldwide, and produces a bulk drug substance critical to the manufacture of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 that is expected to progress to phase two of clinical trials in August.
“President Trump recognizes that American ingenuity creates solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, and North Carolina is a global hub for scientific research thanks to a commitment to connecting our exceptional economic and education systems,” Speaker Moore said.
North Carolina’s research triangle has produced other drugs demonstrating effectiveness in the treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir was developed through an academic-corporate partnership between Gilead Sciences and the Baric Lab at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
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