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by WILL FOLKS
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Leaders at crony capitalist South Carolina drug giant Nephron Pharmaceuticals insist the company “isn’t going anywhere” amid a rash of recent scandals – but reports of widespread layoffs at its West Columbia, S.C. headquarters point to deteriorating conditions for the beleaguered manufacturer.
According to our sources, as many as 55 Nephron employees were fired last week from the company’s embattled 503B division. “503B” is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s designation for facilities which are permitted to “manufacture large batches (of pharmaceuticals) with or without prescriptions to be sold to healthcare facilities for office use only.”
Facilities which manufacture these batches must follow the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations in order to “assure proper design, monitoring, and control of manufacturing processes and facilities.”
Nephron has consistently struggled to meet these standards, prompting multiple FDA investigations – including a visit two months ago which was exclusively reported by FITSNews.
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Earlier this year, the company’s response to these investigations drew further scrutiny via a series of bizarre social media posts by Nola Grant, Nephron’s former chief human resources officer. In April, Grant posted to her LinkedIn page asking fellow human resource professionals to offer their thoughts on a “CEO directed ‘cover up’ in the guise of night with the clearing out, hauling off via truck loads and the destroying of equipment, documents and items from a warehouse.”
The purpose of this alleged cover-up?
“To avoid FDA knowledge, visibility and accessibility… (and) to intentionally help LIE to the FDA about the use of that facility and the items stored there,” Grant added.
Grant no longer works at Nephron…
Nor, for that matter, do dozens of employees in its 503B division – which is reportedly being shut down.
“No more 503B production,” a source close to the situation told FITSNews.
“They have basically fired everyone in 503B,” another source confirmed.
“They stopped running 503B,” a third source told us. “They also had to waste tons of product because they aren’t selling anything.”
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Sales problems have extended beyond Nephron’s 503B offerings, we are told.
“No one wants to buy it if it came from Nephron,” another source added. “They have a bad reputation because of the FDA.”
Our sources indicated the layoffs could have been far worse, too, had Nephron chief executive officer Lou Kennedy gotten her way.
“(Kennedy) wanted to fire everyone but her attorney told her she couldn’t do that,” a source close to the company confirmed.
Clearly additional layoffs are likely in the not-too-distant future…
It’s been a brutal year for Nephron, which fled Florida under a cloud of scrutiny and rushed into South Carolina’s welcoming arms a decade-and-a-half ago. Palmetto State politicians – led by then-governor Nikki Haley – gave the company tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded subsidies to relocate to West Columbia. Haley spearheaded the Palmetto State’s initial corporate welfare package for Nephron, but others have since followed her lead. When the company opened its new glove facility in December 2022, for example, governor Henry McMaster and lieutenant governor Pamela Evette both attended the ribbon-cutting.
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Nephron isn’t just firing employees, it is stiffing local taxpayers. As we reported last month, the company owes Lexington County $950,108 – including an estimated $125,000 in penalties for nonpayment or late payment. Upstate businessman Dan Adams -who owns Nephron’s newest facility, Nephron Nitrile – insists his company will pay its bill.
Will it, though?
In addition to Nephron’s sales problems, regulatory issues, layoffs and overdue tax bills, the company’s recent bid to sell its property – and lease it back – “didn’t go as well as (Kennedy) would have liked it to go.”
That means the debt issues the company is facing are unlikely to materially improve anytime soon.
Nephron has consistently landed in trouble with federal regulators – and not just investigators from the FDA. In early 2023, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced a recall of “all medicines made by Nephron Pharmaceuticals” due to a “fear of contaminated drugs.” In September of 2020, the company was accused of running afoul of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after falsely advertising that its products were made in America.
Given the tens of millions this company has received from taxpayers in unfair, market-distorting subsidies, count on FITSNews to remain firmly embedded on this story in the weeks and months to come…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
someone FOIA the documents from the county pertaining to the jobs created FILOT agreement that was given multiple times. Have the terms been met? Proof?