(August 23, 2007) Franklin, Kentucky.  [From the Franklin Favorite]

Blu Pharmaceuticals will relocate its corporate headquarters and warehouse to Franklin, the Industrial Authority announced last week.

The company will initially occupy approximately 20,000 square feet in the former Tyco Electronics building on Ky. 1008 in east Franklin.

Blu Pharmaceuticals, which distributes generic drugs, currently has five fulltime employees but is expected to add 40 more in the next few years as the market for the cheaper brands grow.

“This is our first tenant to lease space in the Tyco industrial building that the Industrial Authority purchased last year. Already, renovations have begun in part of the office and manufacturing area,” Industrial Authority Chairman Gary Broady said. “These changes will help us in marketing the rest of the building.”

Blu Pharmaceuticals will locate in the building that opened in 1956 and once housed Potter and Brumfield, Siemen’s Electromechanical and Tyco Electronics. Tyco Electronics, which employed 300, phased out operations in the fall of 2005.

The Industrial Authority and city of Franklin then purchased the building. Last year, Nu-Tech Building Systems expressed interest in the site to manufacture prefabricated housing; however, the company’s financing package fell through.

The Blu Pharmaceuticals distribution company is expected to begin operations in September after renovations to the building are completed.

Blu Pharmaceuticals, LLC is a certified minority owned generic pharmaceutical company. Bill Luster is the owner and president.

Since its founding in 2006, Blu Pharmaceuticals has experienced exceptional growth, and Luster decided to relocate the company’s corporate headquarters and warehouse from Bowling Green to a larger facility in Franklin. The new facility provides an opportunity for continued expansion of the company.

“We are very excited about coming to Franklin,” Luster said. “The Industrial Board and community leaders have made us feel very welcomed. We have a chance for real growth in Franklin – a community that really has an outstanding business climate for new companies.”

Mayor Jim Brown said “he looked forward to having Blu Pharmaceuticals as a part of the city. I have enjoyed meeting Bill Luster and his staff, and I know that this company has a lot of potential for growth in Franklin.”

Simpson County Judge Executive Jim Henderson added that “Blu Pharmaceuticals’ presence in the vacant Tyco Electronics building is an important event for Franklin. This company will utilize a lot of space in the industrial building and will help us attract more businesses to this facility. I personally want to thank Buddy Steen, executive director of the Central Region Innovation Center, for working with us in regard to this project.”

Blu Pharmaceuticals supplies generic drugs to major wholesalers, group purchasing organizations and government agencies, including Veteran’s Administration, Indian Health Services and Bureau of Prisons.

Over the next five years, brand-name drugs with more than $60 billion in combined annual sales will lose patent protection and face generic competition.

By 2011, more than 80 new generic medications are expected to enter the market.