Roche expands Costa Rica operation with new service center

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche opened a new service and distribution center in Heredia province on Wednesday, representing a $5.5 million investment.

The company expects the expansion will allow it to increase exports by 50 percent over the next five years.

Roche is also hiring 40 new employees for its administrative, commercial and health research departments. The new workers join 175 employees already working at the company’s local operation in the UltraPark free zone.

CEO of Roche Central America and the Caribbean Stephan Julsing said the investment decision came on the heels of considerable growth in the company’s regional operations in recent years. “We chose Costa Rica based on various factors, such as its political stability, the quality of the human talent and a strong legal system,” he said.

President Luis Guillermo Solís attended the inauguration and said Roche’s investment here represents a vote of confidence in the skills of local talent, which has allowed the company to grow continuously.

The new facilities also expand the company’s storage capacity and will help it implement technologies to meet the most recent environmental and energy saving standards, Julsing said at the ceremony.

Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Mora Delgado noted that Roche is one of 11 companies in Costa Rica’s service sector to expand local operations during the first eight months of this year.

The Basel-based company launched operations in Costa Rica in 1973. All of its production here is for export.