The New Albany International Business Park will add 70 jobs, thanks to an expansion of one of its manufacturing businesses.

PharmaForce Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical research-and-development and manufacturing company, will expand at 6610 New Albany Road East in the business park.

The company also will add eight jobs at its Hilliard facility at 4150 Lyman Drive, said communications manager Terri Ponce.

The company has 196 and 102 employees at the New Albany and Hilliard facilities, respectively, Ponce said.

PharmaForce will begin hiring for packaging, mechanical, sterile, quality-assurance and validation jobs in the first three months of 2018 for New Albany and in late 2018 for Hilliard, according to a press release.

The expansion will include a 140,000-square-foot addition to the New Albany facility to expand manufacturing and warehouse operations, according to the release.

The company plans to reconfigure and remodel a portion of the Hilliard warehouse and production space and to expand by 1,800 square feet.

The expansion will allow PharmaForce to be a more competitive player in its market, Ponce said.

“This made the most sense,” she said.

The 70 jobs are important to New Albany because more than 80 percent of revenue for city services is drawn from income taxes, according to New Albany city spokesman Scott McAfee. About 15,000 people are employed in the business park, he said.

The New Albany PharmaForce facility opened in 2012 after construction began in 2008, said Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director.

At that time, the city awarded PharmaForce a 100 percent property-tax abatement for 15 years for each phase of its project, she said.

The site PharmaForce purchased was expected to accommodate three to four phases of growth, Chrysler said.

“They’ve been a fantastic community partner, as well, throughout the years,” Chrysler said.

PharmaForce was acquired by Luitpold Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2009. Luitpold is a New York-based company of Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd., which is headquartered in Tokyo.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week Community News