Columbia officially welcomed a new bio-technology business to the city with a ribbon cutting at its new facility this week. BioPharma Services Inc. has been up and running in the city for a couple of months but had its grand opening for its new 11,000 square foot laboratory and clinical facility on Wednesday. BioPharma is a medical research company that conducts clinical trials and drug testing. Its Columbia office specializes in bio-equivalence studies, which usually means ensuring generic drugs are absorbed into the body at the same rate as their name-brand counterparts. The company created 40 new jobs in Columbia this year. Mayor Bob McDavid said it’s important to have a company like BioPharma choose to locate to Columbia.
“What that means is by the time their expansion is complete in three years, there will be 50 high-quality full paying jobs in Columbia,” McDavid said. “So that’s great for those individuals, that’s great for their neighbors, that’s great for the community as a whole.”
BioPharma’s Columbia office is its first in the U.S. for the Canadian-based company. It announced plans to locate to Columbia last November, and plans to create 12 full-time jobs here by the end of the year. By 2016, the Columbia office is expected to double in size and will eventually employ up to 50 full-time positions.
The company conducted and completed its first study this summer, and has already begun two additional studies. BioPharma’s CEO Renzo DiCarlo said Columbia’s medical community and high technology environment made Columbia the ideal location for his company’s first U.S. office.
“We have been extremely pleased with the results of this clinic,” DiCarlo said. “The way it looks, the way it shows, the way the people have been dedicated in terms of making it work. The culture we’re creating here is very similar to our culture in Toronto.”
DiCarlo, McDavid, Missouri Department of Economic Development Director Mike Downing and Regional Economic Development Inc. (or REDI) Chair Todd Culley all participated in the ribbon cutting.