Pfizer to open 'global capability hub' in Tampa, joining Amgen, BMS and J&J in the city

Pfizer's already gracing headlines worldwide with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Now, it's making a big splash in Tampa Bay.

The drug giant is opening a “global capability hub” in the city, bringing multiple services—including finance, human resources, digital and sourcing—to one office. The company will lease more than 100,000 square feet and hire 50 employees, the Tampa Bay Times reports

The city is an “ideal location for our latest multifunctional hub,” Pfizer’s executive vice president of global business services and transformation, Bill Carapezzi, said in a statement. Pfizer conducted a “comprehensive evaluation” and is “excited by the opportunity Tampa offers and we look forward to becoming an integral member of the growing Tampa community."

The Big Pharma's hub will be in a new office building called Heights Union, where nerve-repair company Axogen has set up its second headquarters.  

RELATED: Gilead combines shared services into one North Carolina hub, aiming for 'cost and time zone advantages' 

Pfizer’s move to Tampa follows a trend for drugmakers setting up shared services offices—in that city and elsewhere. Gilead Sciences just this month said it intends to open an operations center in the Research Triangle Park area in North Carolina, where it will employ 275 people once fully operational.  

Gilead said the office will be a “dedicated hub for critical support services in a location that will allow us to realize certain cost and time zone advantages.” 

Meanwhile, several other major drugmakers have picked Tampa for their own services hubs. Amgen in 2017 set up shop in Tampa after considering 270 cities, and last year the biotech giant said it would expand its office by 33,000 square feet, the Tampa Bay Times reported

Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson set up Tampa offices in 2013 and 2015, respectively. 

RELATED: Get ready, Pfizer HQ staffers: You’re moving on up to a slick new Spiral skyscraper 

While Pfizer opens its office in Tampa, the company is also underway with its massive headquarters move in New York City. In 2018, the company announced a relocation to the new Spiral skyscraper in Hudson Yards. The company inked a 20-year lease on 15 of the building’s 65 floors.