Horizon Pharma, a fast-growing Illinois biotech company, is moving its U.S. headquarters from Deerfield to Lake Forest and plans to triple its workforce to 600 employees in about four years.
The company said Monday that it signed a long-term lease for office space at 150 S. Saunders Road, about 7 miles north of its Deerfield headquarters. The new space is about triple the size of its current headquarters and can accommodate about 600 employees. The company has about 200 employees at its Deerfield headquarters, nearly double from just a year ago.
“As we add more medicines to our portfolio, we need more staff,” Horizon spokesman Geoff Curtis said.
The company has made two major acquisitions in the past two years, boosting its revenues from $73 million in 2013 to a projected range of $660 million to $680 million this year.
Earlier this year, Horizon bought Hyperion Therapeutics of Brisbane, Calif., for about $1.1 billion. That acquisition added two rare-disease drugs to Horizon’s portfolio that treat urea cycle disorders. The drugs, Ravicti and Buphenyl, had $113.6 million in sales last year.
The company plans to occupy the first through fourth floors of the 160,000-square-foot building in Lake Forest. Horizon said it plans to complete the move in January.
Horizon moved its world headquarters to Ireland in 2012 in part to lower its tax bill. It did that by buying Irish pharmaceutical company Vidara Therapeutics International last year for $587 million.
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