Allergan Breaks Ground on $200 Million Waco Facility Expansion
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Allergan has broken ground on a $200 million expansion of its Waco, Texas facility. The expansion will add 322,000 square feet of manufacturing space to the current facility, nearly doubling its current footprint. Once completed, the expansion is expected to add approximately 100 full-time jobs, with the potential for the expanded operations adding as many as 250 full-time jobs as the facility reaches full utilization. New positions that will be added include chemists, microbiologists, process engineers and production and maintenance technicians.
Additionally, the facility expansion will upgrade the Company's manufacturing capabilities and capacity. The expansion will add a new raw material dispensary, an automated bulk formulation suite and ten new state-of-the-art production lines as well as warehousing space. Upon completion, the Waco facility will be capable of producing more than 40 different product formulations and will increase its production capacity by more than 50 percent.
The construction, commissioning and validation of the facility expansion and production processes are expected to be completed by 2020. Allergan's Waco facility is the Company's flagship manufacturing facility for its leading eye care products, including Restasis®, Lumigan®, Combigan®, Refresh Plus®, Refresh Tears® and Latisse®.
"Today's groundbreaking marks an important milestone for Allergan, strengthening our commitment to our people, operations and the partnership we have built with Waco and the Central Texas communities for 27 years," said Brent Saunders, President and CEO of Allergan. "This investment will add highly-skilled jobs to the Waco and Central Texas economies, elevate our manufacturing capabilities and increase our ability to provide more complex medicines to more physicians and their patients around the globe.
As we celebrate this expansion today, it is important to remember that it was achieved through great collaboration between Allergan and the local Waco and Texas state governments and chambers who have been great partners in providing a positive business climate for our success. It is through these open collaborations that companies like Allergan can continue to succeed in providing important products, needed innovation and highly skilled jobs for Texas and the U.S. economy," added Saunders.
"I applaud Allergan for their continued commitment to Waco, and this expansion which will create important new jobs for highly skilled Texas workers in our growing life sciences industry," said Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. "I am confident that Texas' extraordinary business climate and our commitment to growing industries like the life sciences will continue to attract healthcare industry leaders like Allergan to the Lone Star State."
"As a member of Congress, I have worked to ensure that our federal laws and policies equip the private sector with the resources and flexibility necessary to be at the forefront of medical innovation for individuals living with serious illnesses and conditions," said U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX). "As a country, we must maintain our commitment to creating a positive business environment that attracts the best and brightest to invest in innovation—this requires providing a competitive corporate tax policy, transparent and consistent regulation, and a strong and skilled workforce able to help produce complex medical products. If we are successful in doing these things, we can strengthen our economy and improve the lives of all Americans. I am pleased that Allergan has decided to invest its best and brightest to advance innovation in Texas."
