Pharmaceutical Firm Plans Massena Facility NOVEMBER 27, 2010

MASSENA - A New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company is planning to locate its manufacturing operations here.

Pristine Pharma Corp. expects to open its production facility in the former Michele Audio complex on County Route 42. The Prospect Park, N.J.-based company will produce cough syrup, pain reliever and other liquid medicines under store brand names and its own label, NuMed. The plant may employ up to 100 jobs, according to Pristine Chief Executive Officer Venkat E. Kakani.

Approximately 30 percent of those jobs would be chemists, pharmacists and skilled engineers, Mr. Kakani said. The rest of the jobs would be in assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution.

"We would like to move there and set up operations and provide employment for the local community," Mr. Kakani said.

Most of the hires will be local, while some of the skilled workers may be recruited from Syracuse, Buffalo and other cities with a high concentration of medical employees, Mr. Kakani said.

Consultants retained by Pristine are currently in Massena preparing for the building's conversion. The opening of the plant is pending approval of state incentives and a power allocation believed to be coming from the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency. The facility may open as soon as February, Mr. Kakani said.

Before now, Pristine had contracted out its work to other manufacturing facilities in New Jersey, Mr. Kakani said. Owning its own facility will allow the business to take off, he said.

"We like the building," Mr. Kakani said. "It can be quickly converted into a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility."

Mr. Kakani said many of the medicines produced are for Canadian store brands, which made locating in Massena ideal. The close proximity to the St. Lawrence Seaway will also allow the company to ship its goods more easily to its large markets in Russia and the Ukraine.

Some of its domestic products can be found under store-brand labels at Kinney Drugs, Price Chopper, CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens and Walmart, he said.

Pristine was founded in 2009 and became a subsidiary of the Michelex Corp. in July. Michelex once employed around 200 employees in Massena between its audio division, where Pristine is now locating, and its plastics division in the Massena Industrial Park. Both of those plants have since been phased out.

Michelex's retired CEO is Massena resident Thomas Gramuglia, who stepped down in May of this year. Mr. Gramuglia's recommendation played a large role in coming to Massena, Mr. Kakani said. The company purchased the building from Mr. Gramuglia under the limited liability company TI-Blatta LLC for $275,000 several weeks ago.

"I'm trying to do my part to bring back the jobs that I lost," Mr. Gramuglia said. "It's taken a lot of work on my part to convince them to make Massena their home."

Mr. Gramuglia emphasized the importance of the incentives needed for the plant to take off. But he said he was pretty sure the pieces would fall into place.

"We've gotten them up here, they're committed and they're going to bring a good number of jobs," Mr. Gramuglia said.

Mr. Gramuglia had also recently purchased the Louisville Elementary School for $65,000 with the intent of "job creation." He wouldn't disclose whether the two projects were in any way related.

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