PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Kalamazoo County economy is about to get another boost as the nation continues to combat COVID-19.
Pfizer plans to announce today it will spend $120-million to expand their Portage manufacturing facility to increase production of Paxlovid, anti-viral tablets that are prescribed to high risk patients who catch the virus.
The expansion is expected to create 250 new jobs.
It will be the only U.S. plant producing the active ingredient for the drug. Currently U.S. supplies are coming from Ireland.
The treatment has received FDA approval for emergency use by patients who are more at risk of hospitalization or death because of age or chronic health conditions.
It’s the same plant on Portage Road that has been producing the company’s Covid-19 vaccines for nearly a year and a half. Those vaccines could be approved by the FDA for use by preschoolers yet this month.
)reporting from John McNeill)
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