Valeant's Bausch & Lomb Adding 200 Jobs in $150 Million Expansion of South Carolina Plant
October 16, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Bausch & Lomb, a division of embattled Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will invest $150 million into an expansion of its contact lens solution plant in upstate South Carolina that will include the hiring of 200 new employees, Greenville News reported this morning.
J. Michael Pearson, Valeant’s chief executive officer, called the Greenville plant a “great facility” and said the company’s contact lens business is growing around the world, the Greenville News said. Pearson said approximately 40 percent of the product made at the plant is exported globally. As the world population increases and the population of those needing corrective lenses to see properly increases, Pearson said it’s only natural the demand for Bausch & Lomb’s products will increase.
“It’s one of the most-efficient, best work forces we have in the world,” Pearson said in his interview.
Prior to the large investment into the facility, Bausch & Lomb will install an additional assembly line that includes an investment of about $20 million and the hiring of 30 new positions. The assembly line is expected to be installed over the next year and the larger investment will be phased in over the next five years, WSPA reported.
The contact lens facility currently employs about 500 people. In its 32 year history, the plant has manufactured approximately 4 billion bottles of eye care products, WSPA reported.
In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted reviews for Bausch & Lomb’s New Drug Application for Vesneo, an intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering single-agent eye drop dosed once daily, for patients with open angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. If approved, Vesneo will be the first nitric oxide donating prostaglandin receptor agonist available for the two disorders. Bausch & Lomb licenses Vesneo from Nicox S.A.
While Valeant is touting the success of its Bausch & Lomb line, the company is facing legal and political scrutiny over price increases to new drugs acquired through M&A activity. This week the company was issued two subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York related to the pricing of two recently-acquired cardiac drugs, Nitropress and Isuprel, after the company acquired Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. . Valeant acquired the two drugs in April, then increased the prices for those drugs by 212 percent and 525 percent, respectively.
Valeant said it is reviewing the subpoenas and is cooperating with the investigation of the two offices.
The company also said it was responding to a letter from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, concerning the pricing of the two drugs. In the letter Valeant Chief Executive Officer J. Michael Pearson addressed the history of Nitropress and Isuprel, the reimbursement process for hospital procedures involving Nitropress and Isuprel, the analysis and reasons underlying Valeant's pricing decisions, and Valeant's programs designed to improve patient access, among other topics. The company also disclosed that it is reaching out to hospitals that have been negatively impacted by the price increase.
“All of us at Valeant firmly believe in maintaining strong regulatory and financial controls and believe we have operated our business in a fully compliant manner,” Pearson said in a statement. “We remain committed to assisting eligible patients who need our products, and we will be working with the appropriate groups to submit the requested documents and plan to cooperate with the inquiries.”