Over-the-counter drug giant Reckitt shelled out 155 million pounds sterling ($200 million) to expand its manufacturing facility in North Carolina, where it produces the popular cold and flu drug Mucinex.
When completed, the site will be the company’s biggest OTC production facility in the U.S. and is expected to create as many as 300 jobs, Reckitt said in a Dec. 3 press release.
The 310,000-square-foot facility will have the ability to produce a range of tablets, and in the future is expected to be capable of supporting additional Reckitt products, including joint supplement Move Free and topical pain reliever Biofreeze. The project's expected completion date wasn’t disclosed.
“Each year, the burden of illness caused by respiratory viruses is unpredictable, and this has only intensified post-pandemic,” Chris Tedesco, a Reckitt’s senior vice president, said in the release. “Demand for Mucinex products has increased over historical pre-pandemic averages, and the factory in Wilson enables us to increase access and meet future demand during in-season and off-season surges.”
Reckitt’s expansion plans fall just weeks after the FDA called for decongestants like Sudafed, NyQuil and Benadryl to be pulled from shelves because they contain phenylephrine. Some Mucinex products contain the substance.
The move by the FDA was a follow-up to a unanimous advisory committee vote in 2023, which concluded phenylephrine was ineffective when taken as a liquid or in a pill. The ingredient does work, however, when it is delivered as a nasal spray, the panel agreed. There is no concern with the safety of phenylephrine, the FDA has said.
As for the Wilson site, the company tipped its hat on the project in late September, announcing that it had chosen the city as the focus of an expansion project. At the time, the company said in a press release it would invest $145 million in the site and would employ about 289 workers.