Oakland County's Medical Main Street grows

JHP Pharmaceuticals broke ground on a $8 million laboratory expansion to its Rochester manufacturing facility, keeping 300 jobs in Oakland County Michigan's Medical Main Street while bringing on another 15 scientists to the area. JHP's sterile manufacturing facility sits on more than 80 acres of land and includes a 171,000-foot production building and warehouse. The laboratory expansion will include research and development space. The ground breaking was June 14. The New Jersey-based company provides contract manufacturing of sterile products for pharmaceutical and biotech organizations. "The long-term plan for Medical Main Street is the growth of the medical and life science sectors and JHP is a vital part of that future," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. "Its expansion in Oakland County is further validation of the growing importance the life sciences have in our region. They are a valued member of our Medical Main Street family." Earlier this year, Elba Laboratories in Troy announced investment of $350,000, while retaining 20 jobs and creating another nine. The company develops prescription and over-the-counter creams and lotions. "These are companies we are aggressively working to retain and attract to Oakland County," Patterson said. "We had two members of our business development team in Boston at one of the biggest bio-tech shows in the world promoting Oakland and Medical Main Street." Patterson created Medical Main Street in 2008 to focus on growing the life science industry in Oakland County and Southeast Michigan. Since the launch, Medical Main Street companies have generated investment of more than $220 million and created or retained more than 2,900 jobs. The county's burgeoning life science industry includes 100,000 health care and life science jobs - more than the number of jobs at the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinics combined. The county has more than 4,300 life science and medical facilities and is projected to add 45,000 health care and life science jobs in the next 10 years, according to a study conducted by the Anderson Economic Group. There are nearly 4,900 active clinical trials throughout Oakland County and the state - more than California, Florida, Texas or New Jersey. In addition to company attraction, Medical Main Street helps entrepreneurs commercialize their life sciences technologies, assists local life sciences companies grow their markets globally, trains the work force for this industry, and works with state government to ensure Michigan is legislatively a top state for life sciences companies. Medical Main Street's inaugural Inno-Vention conference is set for Oct. 4 at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester. The focus is on medical device manufacturers, suppliers and clinicians, and the next generation of devices in oncology, cardiology and orthopedics. Registration is available at www.MedicalMainStreet.org. Published: Thu, Jul 5, 2012