(Editor’s Note: Jim Shamp is director of public relations for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.)

MONROE, N.C. – An India-based global pharmaceutical company has chosen North Carolina for its first North American manufacturing facility.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has purchased a 15-acre site in the Union County city of Monroe, near Charlotte, for the facility. The company plans to spend some $18 million to set up its drug manufacturing plant in an existing 102,000-square-foot building in the Monroe Corporate Center near the Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport.

Glenmark, headquartered in Mumbai, said it expects to employ 41 people by the time it begins production of oral solid dermatology, hormone replacement and cancer drugs at the Monroe plant in 2015. During the subsequent five years the company plans to add injectable and topical formulations to its production line.

“Our plan to set up a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the U.S. underlines the fast-paced growth the company has witnessed in a short span of eight years in the U.S. market, and our long-term commitment to the country,” said Glenn Saldanha, chairman and managing director.

“The U.S. is a key strategic market for Glenmark and it is important for us to have a manufacturing base here to serve our growing business in the country.”

Glenmark, best known in the U.S. for its generic drugs, has 14 plants in four countries — India, Brazil, Argentina and the Czech Republic.

The publicly traded company was founded by Glenn Saldanha’s father Gracias, who died in 2012.

Glenn has a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Mumbai University and an MBA from New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business. Before joining Glenmark, Saldanha worked in the United States for Eli Lilly and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In 2013, Forbes listed the now 44-year-old Saldanha as India’s 57th richest person, with a net worth of $1.2 billion.