Apotex Inc. announced yesterday it is expanding its footprint by investing $184m (€174m) at a site in Miramar, Florida, set to become the US headquarters for the Canadian generic drugmaker.
Along with office space and an R&D centre, the investment will include a drug manufacturing facility as well as housing the packaging operations for Aveva Drug Delivery Systems, acquired by Apotex in 2012.
While Apotex has over three million square feet in manufacturing and R&D facilities in its native Canada, Apotex CEO Jeremy Desai said having manufacturing presence in the US had a number of advantages.
“Expanding our footprint in the US is a central component of our strategy for global growth and reflects the critical importance of the US and Latin American markets to our success, as well as our confidence in the future of the American manufacturing and biopharmaceutical sector,” he said in a statement.
Furthermore: “We are only permitted to manufacture controlled substances in the US when serving this market, so expansion in Canada was not feasible.”
The investment is expected to create over 150 jobs in Florida when construction is complete, expected early 2019.