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Athens' health-care economy is getting a booster shot.

Boehringer Ingelheim, a provider of animal health products for pets and livestock, said it will invest more than $80 million to expand its existing facilities in Athens and St. Joseph, Missouri to accommodate increased production of animal vaccines.

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Boehringer Ingelheim’s facility in Athens, Georgia.

The company said its Athens facility will grow from its current footprint of approximately 350,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet and will nearly double its filling capacity for companion animal and avian vaccines. Construction is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017 and will continue through 2019, with commercial production anticipated to begin in the second half of 2019, according to a news release. The facility, which was established in 1989, currently employs approximately 400 people, including Research and Development operations also based there. It is expected that an additional 50 positions will be added over the next three years to support the expansion. 

In a major deal announced last June, Boehringer Ingelheim acquired Sanofi’s Atlanta-based animal care subsidiary, Merial, valued at $13.53 billion, and Sanofi took over Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer health care business unit, valued at $7.98 billion, as well as cash compensation of $5.54 billion. The merger made Boehringer Ingelheim the second largest animal health business in the world, with more than 10,000 employees worldwide.

Boehringer Ingelheim has a significant presence in Georgia, with its manufacturing and R&D facility in Athens, an additional manufacturing site located in Gainesville and the headquarters for its U.S. Animal Health business based in Duluth.