Athens County Commissioners approve tax abatement for Albany pharmaceutical company

The tax abatement given to the Ohio U-based company will forgive 60 percent of taxes on improvements to the Albany facility.

[dropcap txtcolor="#234a83" style="dropcap1"]L[/dropcap]ast Tuesday, the Athens County Commissioners unanimously approved a 10 year tax abatement, the reduction of taxes to encourage economic development, for RXQ Compounding LLC, a pharmaceutical company currently based at Ohio University. According to the Athens News, RXQ is set to build a 35,000 square foot building on Blizzard Lane in Albany. RXQ is also expected to create at least 75 full-time jobs. The project is expected to cost roughly between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. According to the RXQ website, the company sold $15 million worth of pharmaceuticals in 2015.Founder and president of RXQ Ed Zatta said that the jobs created by the development will range from sales representatives to pharmacy tech to shipping. Zatta said that the average salary of the RXQ employees at the facility will be $18 per hour.[AdSense-A]Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said that the tax abatement will forgive 60 percent of taxes on improvements to the Albany property.“We’ve got a number of jobs (Zatta) has committed to creating, and so those would be a great benefit to the community,” Eliason said.The tax abatement is provided to RXQ on the condition that the company follows through with its commitment to create 75 jobs. If that condition is not met, the arrangement contains a “claw-back” provision that allows the County Commissioners, among others, to form a council that is able to withdraw the tax abatement.RXQ is an FDA licensed business currently located at Ohio University’s Innovation Center. According to the company website, it currently operates out of one the facility’s five “cleanrooms” (controlled environment with low levels of pollutants).According to its website, RXQ offers pharmaceutical compounding services to medical facilities such as hospitals and veterinarians. Compounding is the processing of personalized medications based on patients’ needs or hospitals’ demands, such as regulating dosage size or mixing individual medicines as required by a prescription.RXQ Compounding, LLC compounds a wide variety of veterinary medicines. It also compounds Avastin, a medicine designed to treat a variety of cancers, such as lung, liver, or ovarian cancer.