Move over Alamo. The pharmaceutical industry is coming to the Lone Star state for a $91 million partnership the chancellor of Texas A&M University, John Sharp, called "one of the most significant developments ever in the state of Texas."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved the creation of the influenza-vaccine research facility as a joint venture between the university and GlaxoSmithKline, of the United Kingdom. The research center would research, develop and deliver vaccines and therapeutic medicines to protect the population from infectious disease pandemics and other public health emergencies. Once in operation, the center would offer a speeded approach to vaccine development and delivery, capable of supplying as many as 50 million influenza vaccine doses within 4 months of work on any emerging flu strain. Initial doses of vaccine would be ready within 12 weeks.

Texas A&M University is located in College Station, TX, where the facility would soon be built.

"It's a game-changer for not just Texas but for folks everywhere," Sharp said today. The facility would also host the Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, one of three such organizations in the country, establishing Texas as the home of "third coast biopharmaceuticals," Sharp said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined Sharp at a news conference this morning, emphasizing the project would create - directly and indirectly - more than 6,000 jobs in the state while drawing more than $41 billion into the state during the next quarter-century. "More importantly there will be lives that will be saved around the world because of what is happening in the state of Texas," Perry said.

The center would manufacture influenza vaccine based on the pharmaceutical company's proprietary cell-culture line, whereas most other such vaccines are made from using fertilized chicken eggs. The company recently became the first major vaccine maker to receive approval from U.S. regulators for a new influenza shot that would inoculate people from four separate influenza strains - to be available for the upcoming flu season.

The company provided more than 20 million flu shots in the U.S. market for this past influenza season.