Plasma company to hire more than 2,000 workers in nationwide expansion — including 70 in Dayton

A U.S.-based plasma collection company plans to add more than 2,000 workers to its payroll through 2021 as part of a nationwide expansion that involves 30-plus new locations spanning as many as 20 states.

The ambitious rollout will coincide with the company's first Dayton location, which is expected to create up to 70 new jobs in the Gem City by the end of this year.

Octapharma Plasma, a division of Swiss pharmaceutical company Octapharma AG, has about 30 new plasma donation centers on its planning grid through 2020 and 2021, a company representative told me. Each location will staff about 70 workers.

A list of current and future centers on the company's website indicates up to four new locations in Ohio, including two in Cincinnati, one in Cleveland and one in Dayton. The proposed sites would grow Octapharma's footprint in Ohio from six donation centers to 10. Scroll down for a full list of future donation center locations.

"We're incredibly excited to strengthen our donation network," Judy Smith, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Octapharma Plasma, said in a statement. "Our expanding centers, combined with well-trained staff members, industry-leading rewards and safe donation environments, highlight our dedication to building the best possible donor communities."

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John Daughtry

The Dayton site will be located at 1042 Patterson Blvd. in the Breitenstrater Square Shopping Center plaza. Tony Miller, president of HRI Commercial Realty and part-owner of the shopping center, represented Octapharma in the deal. Rob Pressley, president of Caldwell Banker Commercial MECA in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the leasing agent.

"We just finalized the lease, and they just started construction," Miller told me. "Putting them in there put the Breitenstrater Square Shopping Center at 100% occupied. In this economy, that's pretty good news."

Octapharma will invest millions to build out its new donation centers throughout the U.S., including about $400,000 to build out the 8,100-square-foot space in Dayton. Equipment and employee expenses are separate from that investment.

The Dayton center should be open by late October or early November, the company said.

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Plasma collected in Dayton will be used to create plasma protein therapies for diseases and conditions ranging from rare, genetic and chronic diseases to various critical care procedures.

It will also help advance the work of the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance — a partnership founded by plasma companies Biotest, BPL, CSL Behring, LFB, Octapharma and Takeda to accelerate potential therapies and treatment for Covid-19. The collaboration receives advisory support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

New donors may earn up to $400 in their first month of donating, and each Octapharma Plasma donation center pays out more than $3.5 million to donors each year.

The new facilities will join a fleet of more than 110 Octapharma Plasma donation centers nationwide. See below for a full list of future expansion sites:

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Octapharma Plasma collects, tests and supplies human blood plasma for manufacture into life-saving therapies. The organization, which bills itself as the largest privately owned and independent plasma fractionator in the world, employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and more than 6,000 globally.