Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing Begins Hiring Expansion

With the majority of the financing for its $20 million expansion plan secured last month, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing has already begun hiring new employees that will be added because of the growth.

Berkshire Sterile, which produces sterile, injectable drugs for pharmaceutical and biotech companies that currently are in clinical studies for the treatment of various diseases, is planning to add 75 new employees by the end of next year to its its current 159-member workforce.

In applying for a tax increment financing package from the town of Lee, the company originally told officials that they planned to hire 60 new workers. But CEO Shawn Kinney said Wednesday the number would likely be higher.

With the expansion project, Berkshire Sterile is planning to double the size of its existing clean room, and add a state-of-the art manufacturing line at the 116,000-square-foot Lee Corporate Center on Pleasant Street, a former toy company warehouse that the firm's three owners purchased when they started the company in 2014.

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