Actavis, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals, announced on Wednesday that it plans to expand its pharmaceutical manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Davie, Florida.
To increase production, the company will invest about $40.5 million at the Davie site. The expansion, which will involve the construction of a 30,000-square-foot addition comprising approximately 16,700 square feet of pharmaceutical manufacturing space and 13,000 square feet of warehouse space, will create 220 jobs.
The Davie facility is Actavis’ center for excellence for the manufacturing of immediate and extended release pharmaceuticals.
“Actavis is proud to support Florida and [the] Town of Davie economy with skilled, pharmaceutical industry jobs, and we are committed to expansion of employment opportunities in the region,” said Paul Bisaro, CEO of Actavis, Inc.
“In addition to Davie, we also have packaging and distribution functions in Sunrise, Florida and pharmaceutical research and development operations in Weston, Florida,” Bisaro added. “Our Anda, Inc. division, the fourth largest distributor of pharmaceuticals in the U.S. is also located in Weston. In total, Actavis employs approximately 1,400 people in Florida.”
Organizations that assisted the company in facilitating its expansion were Enterprise Florida Inc., Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, State of Florida and the Town of Davie.
Actavis has been approved for nearly $2.9 million in grants, tax refunds and employee training incentives (state and local) to support its expansion.
Welcoming the Actavis’ expansion Florida Governor Rick Scott pointed out that “since December 2010, Florida’s private-sector has created over 280,000 jobs and our state’s unemployment rate is below the national average for the first time in five years.”
