The company will set up its headquarters operation in a 340,000-square-foot area in Building B at the Great Lakes Tech Centre. The operation will offer complete medical management for people needing costly and advanced medicines for conditions such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease , rheumatoid arthritis and more.
People interested in employment at Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy can apply in two ways: Go to www.diplomatpharmacy.com and click on Careers at Diplomat for an online application and to view current job opportunities. Applicants can e-mail a resume to resume@diplomatpharmacy.com.
Additional employment information will be available from Career Alliance at http://www.gsworks.org/
Michigan beat out competing sites in Ohio and Texas for the project.
Governor Jennifer Granholm singled out the Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy project, saying it's another example of Michigan's changing economic base.
"This represents the phoenix projects that are important to the state. In a manufacturing plant that was closed, we're seeing an entirely new use. It is a phoenix rising from an economy in transition."
Today's MEGA board action represents 17,000 new jobs for the state and $128 million in private investments, Granholm said.
The Michigan Career Alliance has put together a $14 million spending plan that will cover the cost of training new Diplomat employees over 10 years. The Michigan Works agency serves Genesee and Shiawassee Counties.
Diplomat will invest $12 million over the next five years into the expansion.
The transition is expected to begin in 90-100 days.
"In that facility, we will have nurses calling patients on a monthly basis to manage side effects. We'll have patient care centers where our pharmacy care technicians are reaching out to patients to make sure their refill are due and they're home," Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy President Phil Hagerman said. "We can't send a $3,000 prescription to you that's in a refrigerated container. We have to coordinate ... the delivery of the medications. So all the steps in managing a patient, getting the therapies to them will be involved in this facility."
That means they'll need to fill jobs across the gamut from call center workers to those physically at the distribution end, to IT and office managers, to nurses and pharmacists who will compound the drugs. That will mean 1,000 new jobs in the first five years, another 3,000 in the decade ahead.
According to its Web site, Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy was started as a traditional pharmacy in 1973 by Dale Hagerman. He's the father of the current CEO and President Phil Hagerman.
Their Flint Township location is the company's flagship pharmacy. Headquarters are in Swartz Creek.
There are also have locations in Grand Rapids, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and San Bernardino, California.
This is the former Great Lakes Technology Centre at Saginaw and Atherton.
Diplomat Pharmacy plans to purchase a section of the Great Lakes Technology Center at Saginaw and Atherton totaling 340,000 square feet.
The industrial complex, formerly a General Motors facility, was auctioned off in four parcels last December. Diplomat Pharmacy is expected to buy a portion of the east parcel or Building B.
Our records show that parcel went to an online bidder back in December. That bidder paid $885,000.
Diplomat Pharmacy's Web site details what the company is all about - a business charting a new course in patient care. It's a speciality pharmacy that focuses on stocking and filling prescriptions for people with complex medical conditions.
Diplomat President and CEO Phil Hagerman says he had family that worked in the Great Lakes Tech Centre. His family has a long history with GM, but also with this pharmacy business they are continuing to build and grow.
"We're a 35-year-old Michigan-based company. We started out as a family-owned business. My father and I founded the company when I got out of college in 1975. My sister joined the company about 10 years later and we just built and grew, and over a period of time ... became probably the busiest pharmacy in the state of Michigan."
Hagerman says one reason they're so productive is the company's ability to cater to patients, he said, were falling through the cracks.
Patients with various types of cancer, M-S, fertility issues and even animals are treated by the Diplomat staff.
In a statement released by Flint Mayor Dayne Walling's office, Diplomat's President, CEO and co-founder Phil Hagerman said this:
"The award to Diplomat means Michigan can further position itself as a life sciences leader, attracting new and complementary businesses that support the rejuvenation of the Flint business landscape and the appeal of Michigan as a hotbed of ingenuity and health care talent."
Hagerman was quick to point out that without state and local help, the hundreds of jobs that will come with this project in the next five years may have gone to Houston or Cleveland."We were very close. When we looked at it originally, we thought the opportunities in other states far surpassed Michigan."
Then the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce recommending seeking state tax credits. The city of Flint stepped up with promises of tax abatements and help with infrastructure.
The final hurdle - Cleveland had hundreds of people who already had the technical skills sets needed in this life sciences field.
"The Career Alliance stepped in, helped to get the funding to train the great people in Michigan for those opportunities and that was a lot of what helped sealed the deal. It was a lot of everyone coming together with a compelling program," Hagerman said.
Diplomat will even mix medicine tailored to a patients need - if needed - Hagerman says his staff will also call patients to verify when prescriptions need to be re-filled to make sure there's no excess of sometimes expensive medications.
"So it's all about processes that will continue ... to manage a patient from all the conditions that they need and all the services to help make their process easy," said Hagerman.
Hagerman said they do that with people and technology.
Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy is being billed as a mom and pop shop that's grown tremendously over the years, one that wants to continue growing right here in Flint.
