Alexion Pharmaceuticals Responds To Scrutiny Of Governor's 'First Five' Business Initiative: Update

SHELTON, CT — State Rep. Jason Perillo (R-113th) is calling on greater scrutiny of companies that participate in Gov. Dannel Malloy's "First Five" business initiative, following news that one of the companies plans to lay off workers.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals in New Haven recently announced plans to lay off employees, but the company received $51 million under the state program to relocate from Cheshire to New Haven, according to Perillo.

A member of the state legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, Perillo believes that the committee should have greater oversight over such agreements between the state and businesses.

"This news comes right after we learned that ESPN, another recipient of ‘First Five’ funding from the state, will be making layoffs," said Perillo in a statement. "The purpose of these investments was to grow jobs, and since we are losing them, it’s pretty clear that these arrangements aren’t working very effectively. I want to work to create conditions in the state that support all businesses instead of relying on the administration to arbitrarily pick winners and losers – particularly when we now have evidence that they aren’t very good at making those choices."

In a statement, Alexion's Kim Diamond, executive director of Corporate Communications, said the company remains committed to Connecticut and intends to grow its workforce in the state. "The restructuring impacts about 7% of our global workforce, which consists of 3,000 employees around the world."

"Alexion has exceeded the investment and job growth requirements from the First Five Program," stated Diamond. "While we are undergoing an internal restructuring, these changes do not affect our commitment to Connecticut. Our global headquarters will remain in New Haven and we expect to continue to grow in Connecticut as new positions are created later this year to support our global organization."

Perillo noted that the Department of Economic and Community Development does not have any meaningful data about the success or failure of the First Five program.

"Without the oversight we are looking to get today, we will never really know if these programs are meeting the expectations we have of them," added Perillo. "Taxpayers deserve to know if the investment of their money has borne the benefits promised."

Perillo supports a bill that give the legislature more oversight of the initiative, HB 7264, An Act Requiring Legislative Approval for Financial Assistance to Additional First Five Plus Program Business Development Projects.

The proposed bill, which was the subject of a recent public hearing, remains before the Finance Committee and awaits further action there.

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