'Expanding Our Capabilities'

(Photo by Joshua Aaron Photography)

Ritedose Corporation was founded 30 years ago, in an economic landscape that was quite different from the one in which it operates in 2025.

These days, South Carolina has made a name for itself in life sciences, with more than 1,000 Palmetto State-headquartered companies building the state’s reputation for innovation in biotechnology.

But three decades ago, Ritedose, which makes respiratory and ophthalmic medications, was a pioneer in in South Carolina’s life sciences industry.

Now, the Columbia-based company has expanded its physical campus and has plans to move into other areas of medicine, according to Ritedose President and CEO Jody Chastain.

In June, Ritedose held a ribbon-cutting for its newest addition, a 225,000-square-foot logistics and distribution facility at Performance Park, the 105-acre campus that includes Ritedose’s manufacturing center.

The addition “will take us through 2030 and beyond,” Chastain said.

The new facility “expands our capabilities to handle logistics and distribution of well over 2 billion doses per year, supporting the next decade of growth. This year we will manufacture and distribute well over 1.5 billion doses. That’s no small feat. We can typically run 5-6 million doses a day when we need to,” Chastain said.

Sustainability is important, Chastain said, adding that the logistics and distribution facility is Ritedose’s first LEED-certified building.

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting, Jeff Ruble, director of the Richland County Economic Development Office said that Ritedose “pioneered the way” for life sciences companies in South Carolina. Because of the company’s continuing success, the office often offers Chastain’s guidance to other biotech businesses looking to locate in the Palmetto State, Ruble said.

Ritedose uses a technology called Blow-Fill-Seal to make its sterile products, and while the products must incubate for 14 days to ensure they remain sterile, Ritedose is still able to turn products around in about 20 days, significantly less time than its competitors, Chastain said.

The next phase, he said, is a $13 million state-of-the-art lab to be built inside the facility. The goal is to help early-stage life sciences companies get their therapeutic products to market quickly. Construction, Chastain said, will begin in the next quarter.

Ritedose has received FDA approval for several new respiratory drugs this year, Chastain said.

“We are really the pioneer here, specifically in the Midlands. And we have grown to where we are a powerhouse when it comes to inhalation solutions,” Chastain said in an interview following the June 18 ribbon-cutting. “Columbia has really provided a springboard for us when you think about economic development and where we’re going. When we built this facility here, this 105 acres, it was like, what’s our next phase?”

While the company has focused on respiratory and ophthalmic products, Chastain said Ritedose will be expanding its product line in the next three years, though he said the company isn’t ready to announce its plans yet.

In Chastain’s view, one reason for Ritedose’s continued success is that it manufactures products that people need, such as inhalers to treat asthma.

“From a business perspective, to be honest, it’s sort of insulated from the greater economy,” he said. “You can have an economic downturn, but people still need to eathe.”