Layoffs may be standard fare for much of pharma, but the newly created Packaging Coordinators Inc. (PCI) says it has hired 160 folks in 18 months at facilities in Rockford, IL. The additional help is needed as the company prepares for more expansion in the pharma packaging side of things. While it didn't give out dollar figures, PCI said it has also added equipment and capacity to some of the 9 facilities it has in the Rockford area, at which it employs more than 1,300. PCI is a combination of the former Catalent Pharma Solutions packaging business and the former AmerisourceBergen ($ABC) pharma packaging business. Both were acquired in private investment deals headed by Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare. Frazier and partners paid $308 million in May for AndersonBrecon, the AmerisourceBergen business, and merged it into PCI. Release | More