Perennial No. 1 Allergan Inc. once again topped the Business Journal’s annual list of drug makers based in Orange County or with sizable operations here.
The 12 largest drug makers posted flat job growth over a year ago, with a combined 4,148 local workers.
Companies on the list are ranked by local employment. Two reported gains, two reported cuts, and two reported no change.
The remaining numbers are Business Journal estimates.
Irvine-based Allergan reported having 2,600 workers in Orange County, unchanged from a year ago.
Allergan has had a busy year.
Its highlights include dealing with a couple of Food and Drug Administration decisions.
The company recently disputed the FDA ruling that a generic version of its $900 million-plus Restasis dry-eye drug could be approved without human testing.
Allergan started the year by spending $958 million for Mountain View-based Map Pharmaceuticals Inc., maker of the Levadex inhaled migraine headache drug.
In April, the FDA declined to approve Levadex because of manufacturing issues centered on its canister-filling vendor.
Allergan said it bought the vendor, Exemplar Pharma LLC, and would “vigorously address” regulators’ concerns, with the aim of reconsideration of the request by year-end.
Allergan also got a new face in its No. 2 spot, promoting veteran executive Doug Ingram to president in June.
“Clearly, this is over the long term gradually preparing the next generation of leadership of the company,” Chief Executive David Pyott told the Business Journal after the appointment. “He has no guarantee of being the next CEO—that never is that easy. He’s certainly in a good spot now.”
• Allergan has more than five times the local workforce of the list’s No. 2 drug maker, Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. Teva said it had 500 workers at its Irvine plant, which operates under its suburban Philadelphia-based U.S. generics unit. Teva makes a variety of generic drugs.
• The Business Journal estimates that No. 3, Seattle-based biotechnology company Dendreon Corp., has 250 employees at its manufacturing plant in Seal Beach, the same as last year. The company makes Provenge, a treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
Dendreon has spent much of the past two years restructuring and retooling itself after initial Provenge sales proved disappointing. The Seal Beach plant, which opened in 2011, survived the restructuring.
Wall Street recently cast a hard eye on Dendreon after Chief Executive John Johnson warned analysts and investors about the company’s earnings in August.
“Based on enrollments in July and early August, Provenge won’t be able to generate enough sales in the second half of 2013 to overcome the first six months [of] losses,” Johnson said.
Dendreon lost $140.8 million on sales of $140.9 million in the six months ended June 30.
Investor website Seeking Alpha scrutinized the company in a recent posting.
“Dendreon is facing tough competition from [Johnson & Johnson’s] Zytiga and [Medivation Inc.’s] Xtandi and we don’t expect significant demand in U.S. or European markets,” Florida-based Fusion Research’s post said. “Management has failed to keep the costs under control and has lost confidence over the earnings.”
Dendreon’s management is also facing pressure over $27 million of debt that matures next year and another $545.7 million due in 2016, according to Fusion Research.
• Dendreon is followed on the list by No. 4 Par Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has an estimated 200 employees in Irvine. Par came to Orange County two years ago when it bought Anchen Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $410 million. The Anchen deal brought Par generic versions of drugs, such as the popular antidepressant Wellbutrin XL.
• Tustin-based Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. came in at No. 5. Its local workforce fell 2% to 177.
Peregrine recently said its bavituximab lung cancer candidate would be moving to a third-phase clinical trial.
That news came a few weeks after the company halted another trial that showed a combination of bavituximab with carboplatin and paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug, didn’t produce a meaningful enough difference in patients’ overall survival compared with carboplatin or paclitaxel alone.
Peregrine’s shares have been up and down over most of the past two years, with double-digit rises and falls.
The list also includes sales and marketing offices of several major drug makers.
• The Business Journal estimates that No. 6 Pfizer Inc., the New York-based drug giant, has 150 workers in an Irvine office. Pfizer is perhaps best known as the maker of erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which is also based in New York, came in at No. 12 with 12 workers in an Aliso Viejo office, unchanged from last year. Its drug lineup includes Byetta, a drug for type 2 diabetes.
• Henderson, N.V.-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals ranked No. 7. Its workforce fell 8% to 74 employees.
• Aliso Viejo-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Stason Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Irvine tied at No. 8 with 70 workers each. Avanir’s employment was up 17%. Stason’s number is an estimate and the same as the figure the company provided last year.
• No. 10, Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc., posted the largest job growth gain, though it’s still among the smallest on the list. The Anaheim-based maker of injectable H.P. Acthar Gel said its local workforce grew 37% to 30 employees.
• Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., the list’s No. 11 drug maker with an estimated 15 local workers—flat from last year—has been one of the most active drug companies in and around the county.
Valeant just wrapped up an $8.7 billion buy of Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb Inc. and has said it will consolidate its local operations into an Irvine office previously occupied by eye-drug maker Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. Bausch bought Ista in 2012.
