Morning Read I: North Country biotech expands
The In Box has been stumping for the idea of a more logical, coherent approach to developing our bio-tech/bio-medical sector.
Today comes welcome news that the industry — already our top private sector employer in the North Country — is expanding yet again. This from the Watertown Daily Times.
Pristine Pharma Corp. expects to open its production facility in the former Michele Audio complex on County Route 42 [in Massena].
The Prospect Park, N.J.-based company will produce cough syrup, pain reliever and other liquid medicines under store brand names and its own label, NuMed. The plant may employ up to 100 workers, according to Pristine CEO Venkat E. Kakani.
Approximately 30 percent of those jobs would be for chemists, pharmacists and skilled engineers, Mr. Kakani said. The rest of the jobs would be in assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution.
“We would like to move there and set up operations and provide employment for the local community,” Mr. Kakani said.
These are the high-skilled, next-generation jobs that the North Country struggles to attract. Clearly we have some assets that are working for these companies.
It would be great to identify, improve and market those advantages. Read the full article here.
Tags: economy
Not to be picky (just accurate), I don’t think this company is technically “bio-tech”. Maybe med-tech is a better term to describe the company. Bio-tech, because of the “bio”, refers to the use of living organisms in the production of bioproducts.
This is good news. There’s been too little of it lately.