Content area
Full Text
Manufacturing at the Buffalo plant of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. appears to be brisk, but there's only speculation how that could change, should predictions of a takeover of the pharmaceutical company come true.
The company just transferred a product line there from a facility it closed in the South a few months ago and invested about $5 million in equipment and improvements at the Forest Avenue site. A volume of about 50 million mostly overthe-counter and some prescription products, a few for other drug companies, is churned out there annually. Among them are Clairol hair products, Moisturel creams, Keri lotion, nasal spray and cough syrup.
That the Bristol-Myers plant in Buffalo and the 250 who work there pump out cosmetic products for the most part could be a strong point in an acquisition, said Chris Robbins, who monitors the industry for his national pharmacy benefits management company.
"That's probably a fairly safe business because it has high margins," said Robbins, whose company Arxcel is based in Hamburg. "Over the counter is a better market right now because the costs are not as high as developing...