CA county targets foreign firms for relocation

A struggling California county has landed the siting of a 55,000-square-foot pharma manufacturing and distribution facility by a pharma company in Japan. Some 300 jobs are expected from the construction and use of the plant, which is on track for a January finish.

That's welcome news to officials of Riverside County, which currently carries a 14.5 percent unemployment rate.

The economically troubled county offered Osaka-based drugmaker Wakunaga Pharmaceutical no special incentives to build there. But the county has been aggressive in seeking overseas investors; Riverside officials have contacted 10 countries in the past 12 months.

Wakunaga makes the Kyolic brand dietary supplements. The Mira Loma site is in proximity to its existing raw materials processing and manufacturing facility. It's also near the Fresno garlic farms that supply it with raw materials.

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