Dive Brief:
- Generics drugmaker Apotex is making a serious investment to expand its manufacturing presence in the U.S.
- The Canadian company is investing $184 million in a new R&D facility in Miramar, FL that will have advanced manufacturing and packaging capabilities.
- The new facility will be the U.S. headquarters for Apotex Corp. and Apobiologix. The parent company already has a U.S. headquarters in Westin, FL.
Dive Insight:
Just as President Trump is trying to drive jobs and manufacturing to the U.S., the Canadian generics maker is choosing to build out its U.S. presence.
The new project will add another 150 jobs and will be the company’s largest U.S. investment.
The company is hoping that the new facility will make expansion in the U.S. market easier and will allow increased access to the Latin American market.
"Expanding our footprint in the U.S. is a central component of our strategy for global growth and reflects the critical importance of the U.S. and Latin American markets to our success, as well as our confidence in the future of the American manufacturing and biopharmaceutical sector," said Apotex CEO Jeremy B. Desai.
Two of the drivers behind the expansion were U.S. regulation, which don’t allow the manufacturing of controlled substances outside of the U.S., and the increased utilization of biosimilars.
Apotex is the seventh largest generics drugmaker in the world. It chose to build in South Florida to capitalize on the growing bioscience business there. The company says that there are more than 1,500 bioscience businesses in South Florida that bring in more than $4 billion in sales.