Watson to expand Salt Lake City manufacturing, R&D plant

SALT LAKE CITY — Watson Pharmaceuticals plans to expand its manufacturing and research and development plant in Salt Lake City, the drug maker said.

The $44 million expansion of the plant will include retrofitting about 20,000 sq. ft. of space and the construction of about 17,000 additional sq. ft. The expansion of the plant, which makes transdermal patches and topical gels, is expected to include the addition of about 300 new employees over the next three to five years.

The company said the expansion will allow a tripling of annual manufacturing batch capacity to support future products, such as the generic version of Teikoku Pharma USA’s Lidoderm (lidocaine) transdermal patch for pain, which the company expects to launch as early as 2012.