Business may be picking up for locally-based drugmakers just a year after the local sector was showing declines.
Employee headcount for the top seven pharmaceutical companies with offices in Orange County increased year-over year by 7.3% to 2,959 as of April.
The growth represents an about-face for the local sector, which reported last year a 4.5% decline in local headcounts, according to the Business Journal’s list of reported and estimated employee numbers.
Six of the seven companies on this year’s list have their headquarters in Orange County. Three are in Irvine, with one drugmaker each located in Tustin, Newport Beach and Aliso Viejo.
Driving this year’s increase were Irvine-based Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: TARS) and Newport Beach-based aesthetics company Evolus Inc. (Nasdaq: EOLS), which saw employee growth soar 122% and 42%, respectively.
Evolus Strategic Goals
Evolus, ranked No. 5 this year, saw its local headcount increase to 109, up from 77 a year ago.
Evolus is the maker of wrinkle-reducing Jeuveau, a product that competes with Botox, made by AbbVie’s unit Allergan (see page 1 for related story).
“Growing our team is essential to supporting both our near-term objectives and long-term strategic goals,” CEO David Moatazedi told the Business Journal on April 15. “We’re currently launching our second product line to complement our flagship product, Jeuveau.”
Moatazedi acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have “introduced additional complexity to global sourcing and manufacturing strategies.”
Rival AbbVie Inc. easily retained its top spot as the largest of all drugmakers doing business in Orange County.
AbbVie employs an estimated 1,673 in Orange County out of some 50,000 companywide. AbbVie, also the maker of the blockbuster arthritis and Crohn’s disease medicine Humira, bought Botox maker Allergan for $63 billion in 2019.
Tarsus Headcount Soars, Plans HQ Expansion
No. 4 ranked Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Xdemvy – a groundbreaking treatment of eyelid inflammation caused by mites – reported an OC headcount of 206. The 122% surge is more than double last year’s local workforce number.
The Irvine-based company may see its revenue almost double this year to $359 million, according to the average estimate of seven analysts.
ÂMoving its headquarters to a larger space underscores the company’s goals to expand its talent pool and become one of the leaders in eye care, CEO Bobak “Bobby” Azamian told the Business Journal in January when he was named Businessperson of the Year in the healthcare sector.
“With Xdemvy launch, we are considered a leading eye care company, and we want to build a lasting company in Orange County,” Bobak said during a Jan. 6 interview. “So that’s why we signed that lease on a space that will allow us to expand, that will allow us to collaborate in even better ways, and really sets us up for long term success in Orange County.”
Glaukos Glaucoma Treatment
Aliso Viejo-based Glaukos (NYSE: GKOS), which makes treatments for the eye disease glaucoma, came in at No. 2 on the Business Journal list (see page 3).
The company’s local OC workforce jumped 12% to 510 as of April.
“At Glaukos, we are in the business of pioneering entirely new marketplaces within ophthalmology,” Chairman and CEO Tom Burns told investors during a February earnings call. “Innovation is at the core of everything we do.”
The company’s 2024 net sales rose to $383.5 million for a 22% increase over 2023.
The company’s best-known product is iStent, a microscopic implantable device intended to reduce intraocular pressure in the eye.
