Jobs in Arizona Created by Abraxis Expansion

A Los Angeles-based drug manufacturing company is planning to expand and create hundreds of jobs in Arizona (Click here).

Abraxis Health, the healthcare division of Abraxis BioScience Inc., recently opened a $70 million biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Phoenix. That plant is expected to create up to 200 high-tech jobs. Abraxis manufactures a chemotherapy drug that uses nanoparticles.

Abraxis is known for manufacturing Abraxane, which has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and 38 other countries for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The drug is now in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of pancreatic, melanoma and lung cancer.

The company's new facility has the capacity to produce more than 10 million units of Abraxane and that number could eventually be expanded to 20 million units, which is enough for global distribution. Overall, the new plant could end up being a $100 million investment.

Abraxis has had a presence in Arizona for the last few years. During 2007, the company purchased the former Phoenix site of Watson Pharmaceuticals. During 2008, the company invested $15 million into Catapult Bio, a non-profit philanthropic organization that grants funding to help commercialize late-stage discovery research. That company requires that any expansions be done in Arizona.

"What could have been a major failure, the closing of the Watson facility, has actually turned into a big win," Robert Green, president and CEO of the Arizona BioIndustry Association, told Bizjournals. "The landing of a firm as prestigious as Abraxis surely gets noticed in the industry and helps build our international reputation. Our job now is to welcome the staff and ensure they are integrated into our community."