The Business Journal’s annual listing of the largest local players in the pharmaceutical industry shows a sector that remains in decline—a year-over-year drop of 4.5% to 2,521 employees—with several firms with significant operations here either shrinking their local base of operations or closing altogether.
Of the seven companies ranked in the Business Journal annual survey, six are headquartered in Orange County. Irvine is the city favored by four.
The Irvine-based aesthetics operations of AbbVie Inc. easily retained its top spot as the largest of all drugmakers doing business in the county, despite ongoing retrenchment in the area.
AbbVie employs an estimated 1,300 in Orange County out of 50,000 companywide. AbbVie, the maker of the blockbuster arthritis and Crohn’s disease medicine Humira, bought Botox maker Allergan for $63 billion in 2019.
Allergan, previously based in Irvine, a decade ago employed more than 4,000 in Orange County, prior to a series of corporate sales and numerous rounds of job cuts.
Closures
The Business Journal removed four companies off the list as they appeared to have vacated their OC offices following acquisitions and other corporate moves: Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc. of Aliso Viejo, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Irvine and Bausch Health Companies Inc. of Irvine.
A fourth company, Urovant Sciences Inc., declined to be on the list, saying it’s vacating its Irvine offices within a few months and won’t have an office in Orange County. Its 76 employees on last year’s list are working remotely, a spokesman said. The company last year was purchased by giant Japanese pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Pharma Co.
New Addition
Making its first appearance on the list is Glaukos Corp. (NYSE: GKOS), the Aliso Viejo-based maker of glaucoma treatments. While Glaukos is known for making some of the world’s smallest medical devices, it’s also now a pharmaceutical firm.
The firm, No. 2 on the list, makes its proprietary medication called travoprost that is in a small medical device that is implanted in the eye. Travoprost is 25,000 times more concentrated than a typical glaucoma medication (see story, page 1).
Growth Potential
Local companies showing signs of growth in the industry include No. 6 Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: TARS), a development stage drugmaker with an initial focus on eye care.
The company may see its revenue climb 450% this year to $95.9 million, according to the average estimate of eight analysts.
The Irvine-based maker of a treatment to fight mites in eyes has an estimated OC headcount of 100; it more than doubled its companywide workforce to 244.
Tarsus in March unveiled positive results from its Phase 2a clinical trial for an oral tablet to prevent Lyme disease.
“Lyme disease remains a growing public health concern associated with long-term consequences for millions of patients and an estimated $1 billion price tag for the U.S. healthcare system,” said Bobak (Bobby) Azamian, chief executive and chairman of Tarsus.
“We are highly encouraged by these early proof-of-concept data and the opportunity to bring forward a novel, on-demand, oral treatment that addresses the root cause of disease—the ticks that transmit the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.”
Another expanding company could well be Tustin-based Avid Bioservices Inc. (Nasdaq: CDMO), a contract manufacturer of biologics. Last year, Avid completed two expansions within the company’s mammalian cell facilities in Tustin and it now has approximately 213,000 square feet spanning two campuses.
With the expansion—all in Orange County—Avid says it has capacity to reach $400 million in annual sales; the company expects sales to hit $137 million to $147 million in fiscal 2024.
CEO Nick Green last year told the Business Journal that it might add even more space.
“If these guys keep growing the business, then we’ll keep adding capacity,” Green said.
Avid, which retained its OC headcount at 354, ranked third on this year’s list.
