India API maker Wockhardt said it will invest $12.4 million to build a sterile manufacturing and testing facility at its Wrexham, U.K., plant, adding about 50 new jobs at the site.
Wockhardt is a supplier to the country’s National Health Service, providing drugs like insulin and antibiotics. The existing manufacturing plant currently employs about 380 people.
News of the investment came during a visit to India by Prime Minister Theresa May, the BBC reported.
“Today’s announcement is a huge vote of confidence in the workers and the local economy,” May said.
The investment is an upbeat note for Wockhardt, which has come under scrutiny by U.S. and European regulatory agencies for shortcomings at its manufacturing sites in India.
Most recently, the API maker’s troubles with the FDA may cause a delay of the approval of Cempra’s new antibiotic solithromycin that is being manufactured at a Wockhardt plant the agency banned over the summer. In the meantime, Cempra is looking to another API maker to produce the drug at a facility in Mexico.
Wockhardt began to pop up on the FDA’s radar in 2013, with warning letters citing a number of issues and bans of products made at plants in Waluj and Chikalthana.