PHARMA: Compound pharmaceutical maker CAPS moves into large Santee facility

PHARMACEUTICALS: CAPS Will Bring New Jobs to East County

Central Admixture Pharmacy Services, Inc. – also known as CAPS – is coming to East County.

The firm that produces sterile pharmaceutical compounds for use in healthcare centers and hospitals will be moving into a 92,000-square-foot industrial building at 10926 N. Woodside Ave. in Santee.

The site is near State routes 52 and 67, and five minutes from Gillespie Field in unincorporated San Diego County. CAPS' move-in date has not yet been formally announced.

Allentown, Pennsylvania-based CAPS is the nation's largest network of outsourcing admixture pharmacies, with a broad portfolio of pain management and anesthesia products. The company serves hundreds of health systems in California and across the United States.

As its name implies, the company manufactures admixture. An intravenous admixture is a resulting combination when one or more sterile products are added to a bag or bottle of IV fluid for injection or infusion.

This is done primarily for medications delivered through central IV lines. The CAPS service is focused on the daily admixing, dispensing and delivery of a variety of compounded sterile preparations.

CAPS has 22 regional pharmacies and three outsourcing facilities registered with the Food and Drug Administration, including one on Dunbrook Road, west of Miramar Road in San Diego.

Allison Longenhagen, associate director of corporate communications for CAPS' parent company, B. Braun Medical Inc., said that CAPS has outgrown its current location. The company's current Miramar site is less than 19,000 square feet.

“This new facility could have gone anywhere in the region,” Longenhagen said. “We selected this (Santee) site due to proximity of the workforce and its central location, among other factors.”

Longenhagen said the new space will allow for significant increase in capacity, process flow and automation. “Over the next several years we anticipate employee growth from 105 to greater than 160, including pharmacists, pharmacy techs, quality and distribution employees,” she said.

CAPS intends to invest nearly $12 million at the facility in the next two years,

with potential future expansions, Longenhagen said.

Founded in 1991, CAPS will join just a handful of other biotech companies in the region, including Entest BioMedical Inc. in La Mesa and two El Cajon-headquartered companies, Cal Biotech Inc. and Targeting Systems. Scantibodies Clinical Laboratory on Abraham Way in Santee is less than a half mile away from where CAPS will move.

CAPS has a 10-year lease with renewal terms at the site that was once the home of Alt’s Tool & Machine, founded by Dean Alt in 1975. The Woodside site was originally purchased by Alt from the Redevelopment Agency of Santee for $2.25 million, and the building was developed in 2003.

James Sly, president and CEO of the East County Economic Development Council, said, “This scale up is exciting for Santee. A look at our demographics show that as a region it is frequently challenged by high-quality, well-paying jobs. There are only a few biotech companies here; most fall into the Sorrento Valley and Torrey Pines areas.

“We hope this (move) can start to frame East County as a home, a welcome spot for these sort of tech employers with impactful, high-paying jobs,” Sly added.

Cushman & Wakefield handled the transaction behind broker Jeffrey Sallen, who said Rolle, LLC, purchased the building for $14.1 million several years ago.

“We worked on this deal for a long time,” said Nicole Winters, senior vice president at JLL, who negotiated terms on behalf of CAPS.