A California-based pharmaceutical company is expected to soon announce it is bringing 200 new jobs to metro Atlanta’s exurbs, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal.
PureTek is considering a site in Jackson County for manufacturing and headquarters facilities, the two people said. They requested anonymity because they didn’t have permission to speak publicly ahead of the announcement.
PureTek is based in San Fernando, Calif., and specializes in manufacturing bulk pharmaceuticals for drug companies. The company declined to comment, as did Jackson County officials.
Jackson County is about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta on I-85.
The company’s decision would be a boost to Georgia’s ramped-up efforts to recruit jobs in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Biotech recruiters have scored some other big successes, including the $1 billion Baxter International plant near Social Circle.
But recruiters have been considering aggressive and perhaps surprising efforts to pick up the pace, including exploring the idea of doling out state dollars to recruit biotech entrepreneurs who would start companies from scratch here.
Georgia's core of several hundred life science companies is slowly growing. Seattle-based Dendreon Corp. recently built a cancer treatment manufacturing plant in south Atlanta. And drug maker Galectin Therapeutics Inc. announced in September that it was relocating its headquarters from Massachusetts to metro Atlanta.
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