Chintu Patel, co-CEO and co-founder of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, says the...

Chintu Patel, co-CEO and co-founder of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, says the company will hire 400 more employees in the next 18 months. The company has facilities in South Yaphank, Hauppauge and Commack. Credit: Barry Sloan

A fast-growing drugmaker is planning another expansion of its giant office and factory in South Yaphank, in a move that will create several hundred jobs, officials said Tuesday.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals needs to add 100,000 square feet to its facility on Horseblock Road to accommodate higher sales and new products, said Chintu Patel, co-CEO and co-founder of the New Jersey-based company.

He predicted Amneal would hire 400 more employees in the next 18 months.

The company has 714 workers in South Yaphank, one of its three locations on Long Island. The others are a plant in Hauppauge, where 350 people work, and a warehouse in Commack, with six employees.

“We are already running out of space,” Patel said, referring to the 495,000 square-foot South Yaphank facility. It has quadrupled in size in recent years.

Patel’s comments came during a ceremony in the building to highlight energy-efficient equipment installed during that $150 million expansion. He was presented with a $603,888 rebate check from PSEG Long Island.

Amneal is the fifth largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the United States. About 5 percent of all prescriptions are filled using the company’s products.

Officials did not say Tuesday how much the new 100,000-square-foot addition would cost. The prior expansion was supported by tax breaks and grants from New York State and Brookhaven Town.

Patel also said he hopes to have some drugs sold by Impax Laboratories Inc. made in Amneal factories, including in South Yaphank. Impax uses third parties to produce some of its products.

The two companies announced a deal in October under which Amneal will own 75 percent of publicly-traded Impax in Hayward, California. The deal awaits approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We will be bringing a lot more products in-house” for manufacturing, Patel told the audience of politicians and economic developers that included Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward Romaine.

Bellone praised Patel and his family, who came to the United States in 1987 from India with $20. Bellone said their story illustrates the American dream.

Patel said he and his brother Chirag started Amneal in 2002.

“I want to thank America,” Chintu Patel said on Tuesday. “If you have a dream, if you work hard, if you work honestly, this is the country where you can make it.”

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