Venezuelan-Based Unipharma Invests $50 Million To Open Manufacturing Headquarters in Tamarac, Florida
Area Development Online News Desk (08/20/2013)
Venezuelan-based Unipharma, a multinational pharmaceutical company, will invest $50 million to relocate to Tamarac, Florida. The firm will use state-of-the-art, proprietary technology to manufacture pharmaceuticals, functional foods and nutraceutical products at its newly renovated facility, bringing 100 jobs to Broward County.
“We are happy to say that we have begun another chapter in our company’s history with our new manufacturing site in Broward County. Our new facility will not only provide jobs for the local community, but it will support Florida’s growing Life Science industry as well,” said Reinaldo Santa Marta, CEO of Unipharma.
“Unipharma would like to thank all of the institutions involved in making this project a reality; their support has been invaluable. The local and state government is aggressively working towards attracting new projects to the state, and we look forward to continue working with the State of Florida on all of our future projects,” said Public Relations Manager Ralph Echeverria.
The pharmaceutical firm will receive $500,000 in performance based incentives from the state, county and city through the State of Florida’s Qualified Target Industry tax incentive program over the next seven years.
According to the company, Unipharma will provide patients and end-consumers with a new delivery system for liquid nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products manufactured with Blow-Fill-Seal technology. This new delivery system will reduce accidental over-the-counter overdoses which are responsible for more than 15,000 annual deaths in the United States alone.
In addition to Greater Fort Lauderdale, other locations under consideration included Madrid, Spain, and Atlanta, Georgia, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. The company cited connectivity to foreign markets via the port and airport, a growing life sciences cluster and focus on contract manufacturing in the pharmaceutical and neutraceutical industries, as well as the ability to attract top talent due to quality of life as top advantages for relocation to Broward.
Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Enterprise Florida, the City of Tamarac, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, and the Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development worked together to locate the company to Tamarac.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance President and CEO Bob Swindell stated, “We are extremely pleased that Unipharma will locate its new international headquarters in Tamarac. The mission of the Alliance is to maintain and grow the presence of target industry companies in the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County area that can take advantage of our highly educated and diverse workforce, transportation access and highly rated business and personal tax climate. Unipharma will be an important part of our strong and growing cluster of life science companies.”
