San Antonio’s DPT Laboratories Ltd., a company that develops and manufactures creams, lotions, gels and other health care products, has issued pink slips to about 85 employees.
A spokesperson declared the cuts are aimed at building DPT’s local operations “more sustainable” and that laid-off employees received severance packages. The company now has about 460 workers locally, including those at its manufacturing facility at 307 E. Josephine St. near Pearl.
“This action in no way reflects upon the company’s genuine appreciation for the commitment and work ethic of colleagues at the site,” the spokesperson declared of those being cut.
In late January, DPT Laboratories sold a historic downtown office building at 318 McCullough Ave., along with an attached parking garage and the empty land next to it, to the nonprofit FirstDay Foundation. It’s unclear what the foundation paid for the 1-acre property, which the Bexar Appraisal District values at $5.8 million.
The three-story red brick office building was built in 1913 for the Young Women’s Christian Association and designed by prominent local architect Atlee B. Ayres. Later the headquarters of the South Texas Blood Bank, DPT Laboratories bought and renovated it for its own headquarters in the late 1990s.
Along with its operations near Pearl, DPT Laboratories also owns a building at Brooks on the city’s Southeast Side, property records indicate. The company spokesperson did not respond to questions about what prompted the sale of the downtown building.
DPT Laboratories was founded in 1938 as Texas Pharmacal Co., which was recognized as the first U.S. dermatology company.
It was renamed DPT Laboratories in 1990 and acquired by private equity company Renaissance Acquisition Holdings LLC in 2012. Global pharmaceutical company Mylan acquired Renaissance in 2016. At the time, DPT Laboratories employed more than 1,100 people, including over 800 workers in San Antonio.
Mylan merged with Pfizer Inc.’s Upjohn division in 2019 and formed a new company named Viatris.
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