Nephron Pharma to Create 125 New Jobs in Expansion

With a solid footing in South Carolina, Nephron Pharmaceuticals is rapidly expanding its presence in the area with a $12.5 million investment to expand its manufacturing facility and create 125 new jobs.

Nephron, which for several years had been in the process of shifting its business from Florida to South Carolina, said it intends to add 36,000 square feet of manufacturing space to its $313 million manufacturing facility in West Columbia. The facility currently employs about 640 people.

Nephron said the expansion of its West Columbia facility is a result of “tremendous growth in both the Nephron 503B Outsourcing Division, and the existing respiratory therapy drug portfolio.” In a statement, the company said its outsourcing division is one of the fastest growing 503B facilities in America.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Lou Kennedy said the expansion and improvement of the S.C. facility will help the company meet its commitment to “solve the critical problem of drug supply shortages impacting healthcare in the United States.”

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster praised the additional investment in Nephron’s S.C. site. He said the company’s commitment to growing and expanding its operations in West Columbia is “something we are extremely grateful for.”

In November, Nephron went into overdrive to address the need of drug shortages. The company said its South Carolina facility would go into “24-7 production” of shortage products, including sterile small-volume parenteral solutions (SVPs), such as Sodium Chloride 0.9% Injection bags. To date, the company said 30 new products have been developed in 2017 in an effort to solve the nationwide drug shortage crisis.

The move to a 24-7 operation prompted the company to expand its facility. Kennedy said at the time that the company will do everything in its power to “prevent the delay of necessary patient treatments” and develop shortage list products. Kennedy added that the company will do so with a keen eye on quality and sterile manufacturing.

Nephron began its move to South Carolina in 2011. The company chose to shift the operations to South Carolina due to tax incentives offered by government officials. South Carolina’s tax package had the potential of $352.3 million in savings, mostly from tax exemptions from property taxes for 30 years. BioSpace previously reported another tax may have played a factor in the move – the way the states tax the actual equipment in the facility, rather than just the building and company.

Nephron focuses on manufacturing generic respiratory drugs and contract manufacturing. It is also the only manufacturer of Racemic Epinephrine. In June 2016, the company launched its new asthma treatment, Budesonide Inhalation Suspension, a generic version of AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort Respules.