OPELIKA, Alabama -- Baxter International Inc. plans to expand its Opelika plant in a $300 million project that will add 200 jobs and increase the facility's output of dialyzers, a key component of therapy for people with end-stage renal disease.
The work will add 230,000 square feet and several production lines to the facility, which currently employs about 170 people, the company said.
Hiring for the new jobs is expected to begin in 2016, along with the startup of the new production lines.
Information about incentives for the project was not immediately available.
Dialyzers are a critical component to the delivery of hemodialysis, a life-sustaining therapy for patients with end-stage renal disease, according to Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Baxter.
"In addition to supporting a greater number of patients having access to therapy, the expansion is an investment in the communities where our employees live and work. The collaboration with Governor Robert Bentley, Mayor Gary Fuller and the many other local officials was a key component of our expansion plan," Parkinson said in a statement.
The company says there are nearly 2 million patients worldwide with end-stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis therapy. Growing cases of diabetes, blood pressure issues and other causes of kidney disease means the incidence rate of end-stage renal disease and the need for dialysis is growing at 6 to 7 percent annually.