22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • OCTOBER 2021
LI GENERIC, OVER-THE-COUNTER PILL BIZ BOOMS
ScieGen Pharmaceuticals, a generic
drug maker founded in 2009, operates
90,000 square feet of manufacturing
and warehouse space at its Hauppauge
headquarters. The company says it can
make up to 10 billion tablets and capsule
units a year.
ScieGen on its website says construction
is under way on a new facility
that will include an additional 150,000
square feet of manufacturing and warehouse
space, “allowing us to increase
production.”
Meanwhile, Central Islip-based generic
pharmaceutical company Ascent Pharmaceuticals
operates 309,000 square
feet of manufacturing and laboratory
space on Long Island. That’s in addition
to about 15,000 square feet of laboratory
space in India.
Hauppauge-based Contract Pharmacal,
which says it has a 17 billion pill capacity,
develops about 100 new products
and makes more than 600 products
annually.
And Deer Park-based Allegiant Health,
spun off by A&Z Pharmaceuticals,
makes private label over-the-counter
pharmaceuticals and nutritional
supplements, as well as products
under its own Health A2Z brand. It
now has a portfolio of more than 100
over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and
supplements.
Sounds like a lot? Enough to make the
name of the TV show Billions seem like
a rounding error? All of this adds up
to a big little pill industry and a kind
of hub of generic manufacturing,
where other companies typically
develop drugs that are then made on
Long Island, fueling manufacturing
in Suffolk County.
“In terms of what we do on Long Island,
we manufacture and distribute
generics,” Anthony DiMeo, an Amneal
spokesperson, told the Long Island
Press. “Generics is a critical industry in
U.S. healthcare. It represents the vast
majority of total presciptions — 90%.”
Bridgewater, N.J.-based Amneal,
DiMeo said, has been “focused on
affordable, essential medicines,”
since the company’s founding in
2002. Amneal acquired a Brookhaven
site in 2008 and in 2017 completed a
major expansion, which DiMeo said
made it the largest pharmaceutical
facility in New York State at approximately
600,000 square feet. He said
Amneal’s generics business has been
growing by 2%-3% a year, driven by
new products.
While Amneal makes many medications
under its own brands, Contract
Pharmacal specializes in making and
packaging pharmaceuticals and dietary
supplements for other companies. It
employs more than 1,300, works for 65
customers worldwide and has annual
bottling capacity of 300 million and
annual solid-dose capacity of 20 billion.
“Fift y years ago, John Wolf, our cofounder,
had a vision to help companies bring quality
pharmaceutical-grade products to
consumers,” Chief Operating Offi cer Jeff
Reingold said as the company celebrates
its 50th anniversary. “People assume
quality, but you have to prove quality.”
Contract Pharmacal had grown its
work force from 630 in 2012 to twice
that number by 2019, according to a
statement by Empire State Development
and the New York Power Authority.
“Contract Pharmacal has deep roots on
Long Island and thanks to support from
New York State this innovative company
has seen signifi cant job growth
in recent years,” then-Lt. Gov. Kathy
Hochul, who toured their facility, said
in 2019. “Their continued expansion is
part of our ongoing strategy to create
good-paying jobs, invest in our workforce,
and ensure a brighter economic
future for Long Island and across the
state.”
Contract Pharmacal President Mark
Wolf at the time said $8 million in tax
incentives tied to his company’s investment
and creation of jobs helped
the business “expand and remain
competitive in this highly specialized
industry.”
In addition to manufacturing, the industry’s
expansion is leading to high-tech
warehousing for billions of pills made
in the United States, even if most manufacturing
has moved off shore.
“Our automated warehouse has the
proper segregation to store materials
of diff erent environmental conditions
to meet their requirements,” ScieGen
says on its website.
Many of the companies were created by
entrepreneurs of Indian heritage, such
as Amneal, founded in 2002 by brothers
Chirag and Chintu Patel, whose father,
Kanu Patel, worked as a pharmaceutical
regulatory inspector in India.
SciGen CEO Pailla Malla Reddy, an Indian
American businessman, in 1995
founded Bactolac Pharmaceutical and
in 2009 launched ScieGen Pharmaceuticals.
Sudhakar Vidiyala is CEO of
Ascent Pharmaceuticals.
Companies do a lot of research as well as
manufacturing on Long Island. Amneal
in Brookhaven operates an R&D site
not far from an 84,000-square-foot
warehouse in Yaphank.
Many pharmaceutical companies have
been expanding on Long Island to meet
growing demand, oft en driven by generics
that prove an Rx for growth.
“Yes, we have been hiring on Long Island,”
DiMeo said. “If you look at our
LinkedIn page you’ll see we’ve had a
number of job fairs this year.”
continued from page 21
“Generics is a critical industry in U.S.
healthcare. It represents the vast majority
of total prescriptions — 90%,”
says Anthony DiMeo, an Amneal Pharmaceuticals spokesperson.
Generics, drugs made when original products go off patent, are at the core of the growth. (Getty Images)
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