Apotex manufacturing, R&D project in Florida comes with 150 jobs

Canadian generics producer Apotex has embarked on a $184 million project in South Florida that includes a new manufacturing plant and 150 new jobs.

The drugmaker announced Wednesday that is has started construction on a manufacturing facility to make pain meds, as well as a packaging facility and a new R&D center in Miramar, Florida. The project is slated to be complete in 2019.

Apotex, which now has its U.S. headquarters in Weston, Florida, moved to the area with its 2012 acquisition of transdermal patch maker Avena.

It said it decided on South Florida for its new facility because of its proximity to Latin America and “to capture the benefits of Broward County's business environment.” Authorities are providing an unspecified amount of incentives. But it also is expanding in the U.S. because of the laws regulating controlled substances.

“In addition, due to U.S. regulations, we are only permitted to manufacture controlled substances in the U.S. when serving this market, so expansion in Canada was not feasible,” CEO Jeremy B. Desai, said in a statement.

The company told Bloomberg the facility will make pain medications and allow it to double production of transdermal patches.