Orlando-based Nephron Pharmaceuticals will cut another 250 positions in Florida as it transfers its manufacturing to a newer site in South Carolina.
As reported by the Orlando Business Journal, the maker of respiratory meds has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the state indicating it'll eliminate 250 positions at its headquarters at the end of March. Nephron has a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing, distribution and packaging facility at its Orlando HQ.
In October, Nephron said it would eliminate 400 jobs at the headquarters location, but followed through with 180 job cuts as of January 15, according to the Orlando Business Journal. With the next round of 250 layoffs, the staff at the Orlando site will largely be gone, although CEO Lou Kennedy told the OBJ it will remain Nephron's headquarters.
The company is transferring much of its manufacturing to a $313 million plant in West Columbia, SC, the report said.
In the midst of the move, in December Nephron recalled 32,490 cartons of Asthmanefrin Racepinephrine Inhalation Solution Bronchodilator refills and 47,754 cartons of starter kits because of discoloration issues. According to Nephron's website, the OTC asthma product is now FDA-approved, but the company got into FDA trouble in 2013 for selling it unapproved. At the time, the regulator reported "numerous FDA Adverse Event Reports" for the product, including reports of chest pain, nausea or vomiting, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and possible hemoptysis.
- here's the OBJ story