Alexion Pharmaceuticals has announced a big expansion in Providence and will be hiring for biotechnology jobs in Rhode Island.

The drug maker is creating office space and additional laboratories that will house research and other jobs in Smithfield.

Projo.com writes:

The company is creating the kinds of jobs the state is trying to attract as leaders seek ways to pull Rhode Island out of its economic doldrums. Alexion, which now employs about 125 in Smithfield, expects to increase its work force there by about 35 percent by the end of next year, said Irving Adler, senior director of corporate communications. 

Expected jobs will be in the manufacturing, science, and biotechnology fields.

Salary ranges weren’t pegged, but Adler said the jobs will come with high wages.

Alexion produces the drug Soliris, the only approved therapy for patients with a rare blood disorder known as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

According to Projo, Alexion bought the Smithfield facility in 2006, opened it in 2007 and won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for it to be the second facility where the company produces the drug.

Employees will come from Rhode Island and other outlying communities.

Along with the new biotech jobs, other companies are recruiting for manufacturing jobs in Rhode Island.

Some pharmacy jobs in Rhode Island will soon be eliminated.

GeoPharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, recently announced that it plans to cut jobs, consolidate distribution operations and lower SG&A. The company is hoping these moves will help restructuring efforts and improve financial performance, according to an article by RTTNews.

Aside from GeoPharma closing a facility in Rhode Island, the company also has already closed a warehouse facility located in Texas.

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