KBio Inc. has announced plans to permanently close its facility at 3700 Airpark Drive in Owensboro, impacting 46 employees.
The biotechnology company, operating under the name Kentucky Bioprocessing, issued a formal notification to the Kentucky Department of Workforce Development on April 15, stating that the facility will begin winding down operations on April 30. While employees are expected to remain employed through July 2, the facility will officially cease operations later this year.
According to a letter submitted by Patricia Holliman, Senior Director and Employment Law Partner for KBio, the complete closure is anticipated by late October 2025. However, a handful of employees, including senior management positions, will have their employment extended until the end of the year.
“Employment terminations will be permanent, and employees will not have bumping rights,” Holliman said in the letter. The company emphasized that it is providing notice out of “an overabundance of caution” and does not concede that federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requirements apply, given its workforce size.
The affected positions span various departments, including analytical services, process development, clinical manufacturing, quality assurance, plant biology, and business services. Among the roles to be eliminated are director-level positions, as well as multiple scientists, engineers, and support staff, including executive assistants and inventory analysts.
Key positions and their anticipated separation dates include:
- Directors of analytical services, process development, quality assurance, and business services, with separations scheduled between October 2 and December 31.
- Senior scientists across disciplines like plant biology, quality control, and vector engineering, many of whom will depart on July 2.
- Executive and operational roles such as the executive assistant, maintenance engineers, and inventory analysts, also expected to leave by early July.
The Owensboro closure comes as a blow to the local biotechnology sector, which KBio helped bolster over the past several years. Originally part of Kentucky BioProcessing, the facility has been involved in biopharmaceutical research and development.
The company has designated Patricia Holliman as the contact for any questions related to the closure.
