St. Jude to expand into Puerto Rico

St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) will expand its operations in Puerto Rico. The company recently purchased a facility in Arecibo's Santana Industrial Park, which will allow the company to increase its Puerto Rico operations by 30% and create up to 1,200 new jobs within the next three years.

The facility is expected to begin operating by mid-year 2008. Initially, St. Jude Medical in Arecibo will produce cardiac rhythm management devices, including pacemakers and pacing leads, which are currently produced at the company's Caguas plant. In addition, St. Jude Medical plans to begin manufacturing implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and their corresponding high voltage leads at the Arecibo site at a later date.

The Caguas site will continue to manufacture mechanical heart valves and Angio-Seal vascular closure devices.