Red River Pharma Expands Footprint with Warehouse
As Published in the Shreveport Times
By: Bobby Clark
In addition to manufacturing and developing a line of medical foods for its sister company Pamlab, Red River Pharma will take care of the warehouse distribution of those products.
The company recently completed $1.5 million expansion of its facility in Shreveport to include 19,000-square-foot warehouse facility, essentially doubling its footprint in the area.
"This space will provide us with the opportunity to begin manufacturing our own line of liquid products as well as be a contract manufacturer for other companies," said Samuel Camp, chairman and chief executive of Red River Pharma and Pamlab.
"It is estimated that our Shreveport work force will expand immediately by 10 to 15 personnel as a result of these developments."
Red River Pharma has 43 employees. Construction on the new warehouse facility started at the end of last summer. It was completed in January.
Nikki Bland, facility manager for Red River Pharma, said Red River Pharma took over distribution from Pamlab in April.
The company also has signed a 20-year lease with the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana. Red River Pharma was one of the first tenants of the Foundation's InterTech Science Park. They have been there for several years.
RedRiver Pharma and Pamlab, which is based in Mandeville, work to manufacture and market medical food products like METANX, which is for diabetics, and DEPLIN, for depression management.
Bland said Red River Pharma could not have taken on the expansion without the help of the Biomedical research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana.
"Their science park gave us the location and opportunity to build here in Shreveport," she said. "These products could have been manufactured anywhere, but Pamlab wanted to manufacture it in its home state."
Prior to finding a home at the InterTech Science Park about seven years ago, Pamlab had contract manufacturers make their products at out-of-state facilities.
With Red River Pharma's new expansion, not only can it handle its own products, but it also helps to get manufacturing contracts from other companies," Bland said.
"We are so excited and looking forward to the challenges and new business we hope to get in the future," Bland added.
Charlie Wiggins, president of Red River Pharma, said Shreveport has been an ideal site because of its location near major interstates and rail lines.
"However, the hidden strength of this market it the relatively large number of people with experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing and development," he said. "We envision Red River Pharma as a national leader in manufacturing."