Hollister-Stier Laboratories LLC, of Spokane, began a marketing blitz in January to promote its contract-manufacturing services, and the strategy appears to be working: The pharmaceutical makers contract sales are up more than 300 percent for the year so far, says its CEO, Tony Bonanzino.


Even if the company gets no more contract-manufacturing work for the rest of the year, Hollister-Stier still would experience a nine-fold increase in contract sales this year compared with 2000, based on work thats already been booked but not necessarily performed yet, Bonanzino says. I suspect if we continue the way were going we will have to add a second (manufacturing) shift by the end of the year, he says.


That move would mean adding additional workers to Hollister-Stiers current work force of about 250, although the company doesnt know yet how many people would be hired, says company spokeswoman Kathy Bauernschmidt.


Hollister-Stiers longtime business has been producing allergy products, but it also has been pursuing contract-manufacturing work for the last year and a half. Company officials earlier had said that they expected such workbasically, producing liquid products on behalf of other pharmaceutical makersto generate significant revenues for Hollister-Stier in the future.


In the past year, the company has landed or still is in negotiation on such agreements with 10 companies, Bonanzino says. Those companies make various vaccines and drugs for the treatment of obesity and its complications, cancer, and allergies and asthma.