After its sale to PAI Pharma, generic drugmaker VistaPharm is closing up shop in Largo, Florida, and laying off 36 employees, the company revealed in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) to the state.
The first round of terminations take effect on Jan. 13 of next year, with more to come in 2023. The headcount at the site is 177 full-time workers. Some of those will have the option of relocating to South Carolina, the company said.
Additionally, equipment and products from the site will be moved to PAI’s facility in Greenville, South Carolina.
“It has been determined to be more cost effective and efficient to operate from the South Carolina facility,” PAI wrote in the WARN notice.
Quality control personnel account for half of those let go. Twelve packagers will be terminated, along with three quality assurance specialists, an IT specialist, a warehouse maintenance handler and a maintenance technician.
VistaPharm specializes in the production of liquid generic products, including opioids. In 2016, VistaPharm issued a voluntary nationwide recall of 8,901 cases of oxycodone hydrochloride oral solution because of leakage.