Columbia, South Carolina – Last week, The Ritedose Corp. announced that they’ve bought a large piece of land and are planning to grow their business significantly. This expansion means the company will have to hire more people, reaching over 600 employees.
The Ritedose Corp. acquired 105 acres of land from the Midlands Technical College Enterprise Campus located in northeast Richland County. This move is part of a big plan that will see the company spending $81 million over four years. This project involves building a campus that will cover almost 500,000 square feet for making, packing, and sending out medicines. Ritedose is known for being the biggest company in the U.S. that makes sterile products using a special technique called Blow-Fill-Seal.
The company confirmed in a release that the construction process will start very soon, and they plan to call this new area “Ritedose Performance Park.” The first thing they’re going to build on this land is a big center, about 225,000 square feet, for distributing and managing their products. This new piece of land is right next to where their main office and factory are now, in the Carolina Research Park off Farrow Road in Richland County.
“There continues to be a nationwide surge in demand for the medications we produce — especially for respiratory diseases,” Ritedose President and CEO Jody Chastain said in the release.
“The volume of medications we’re producing has surpassed 1.5 billion doses annually, and we expect to produce more than 2 billion doses annually in the coming years. Our production of ophthalmic medications has also rapidly increased due to demand from cutting edge ophthalmic drug developers. I’m incredibly proud of our team for working hard and smart to meet the needs of millions of patients across the United States and doing it with absolute integrity and excellence.”
The company started with 16 acres when it first broke ground in 1995. In all, the Ritedose campus now comprises about 138 acres of land in northeast Columbia.
“When the Midlands Technical College Commission created the Enterprise Campus years ago, commissioners envisioned this property as a catalyst for workforce and economic development in our community. We are pleased that vision has now come to fruition,” MTC President Ron Rhames said in the release.
The Ritedose Corp.’s expansion includes not just buildings and jobs, but also a one-mile nature trail for employees. This trail will go through nine acres of protected wetlands, showing the company’s commitment to employee health. They’re adding over 100 new jobs, having already hired 79 people since they talked about getting bigger in December 2022. They’re looking to hire around 70 more people as they keep growing.
Employees at Ritedose could earn up to $90,000 a year, counting both their salary and benefits.
The company’s leader, Chastain, shared their pride in being a top workplace in the Midlands, attracting workers both locally and from across the nation. This is thanks to their strong reputation for making top-notch products. Ritedose has grown nearly 50% in manufacturing and sales since their last expansion in 2018 and expects to keep growing quickly.
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This growth is partly because they’re creating new products. They make various medicines for different illnesses, with many still being tested in clinical trials. These new medicines could greatly help millions of people once they get the okay from the U.S. FDA. The whole team is excited about growing the business and helping even more patients.
Ritedose specializes in making sterile, single-use medicines for different health needs, including contract manufacturing, generic medicines, and specific outsourcing markets. Their customers include everyone from small new companies and pharmacies to big drug makers, wholesalers, and hospitals.
Ritedose last expanded in 2017 when it spent $10 million to add 140,000 square feet of manufacturing space, according to the S.C. Commerce Department.
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Their work involves taking new drug ideas through the testing phase all the way to making and selling both new and generic medicines for breathing and eye conditions, as well as making single-dose syringes for different treatments.
