Medco adding 162 jobs to Ind. facility

WHITESTOWN, Ind. (WISH) - A company that's already promised more than a thousand new bio-tech jobs in Central Indiana has just sweetened the deal.

Medco Health Solutions already has an operation under construction off Interstate 65 in Whitestown. Right now, the only signs of life there are the construction workers and the geese swimming in the pond out front.

But in the coming months, people will work inside the building as pharmacists, researchers and engineering technologists.

Rich Jones is the vice president and general manager of Medco's Whitestown facility. Tuesday, the mail-order pharmacy company announced the operation will employ 160 people more than originally planned. The employees will work in an oncology therapeutic resource center.

The workers will do more than the typical pharmacist, according to Jones.

"Not just getting them the right drug, but also making sure they're making the lifestyle changes, choices that they can maximize the use of their drugs and have better outcomes with their oncology therapy," said Jones.

Medco said it feels confident it can fill the positions with high-quality pharmacists. The plant is located between two good pharmacy schools: Purdue University to the north and Butler University to the south.

"Yes, we think with the two schools of pharmacy and then you've also got Indiana University's medical research center that we can work with, there are a lot of good folks and good things that we can do to continue to grow this business," said Jones.

The oncology section of the operation should be up and running by October of 2009.

More employees will come online at the beginning of next year. Altogether, the company expects to employ between 1,200 and 1,400 people -- a bright spot in dark economic times.

Governor Daniels said the additional jobs at Medco are fabulous news. He said in total payroll dollars, Medco was already the biggest new company the state has recruited. The governor said the expansion will add tens of millions dollars more to the state's economy.