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WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. – Flanked by partners, business leaders and public officials, including Governor Henry McMaster and members of Lexington County Council, Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation CEO Lou Kennedy today announced a major milestone for Nephron Nitrile, a plant that will produce American-made, medical-grade first-in-class nitrile gloves.

Thanks to the hard work of indispensable logistics experts from UPS and Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), Kennedy, a Made-in-America champion, led a celebration for the arrival of the first equipment – including manufacturing lines – that will allow Nephron Nitrile to begin production of gloves within weeks.

The equipment began arriving by flight, landing at CAE, early Monday morning.

“We are excited for the arrival of this critical equipment,” said Kennedy. “But, more than that, we are grateful for the partnerships – from South Korea to South Carolina – that have allowed us to make efficient progress over the last year. Now, it is time to start making invaluable gloves right here in Lexington County.

“Nephron Nitrile is a project I have been passionate about because of the positive difference it can make around the state and country,” Kennedy added. “The supply chain disruptions, due to American dependence on foreign sources of PPE, that impacted so many confronting the pandemic underscored the need for companies like ours to step up. We are proud to be able to do it.”

Nephron Nitrile – headquartered in more than 400,000 square feet of space – is nearing the completion of construction. It represents an investment of more than $100 million in the Midlands. The plant will generate at least 250 jobs for the area.

Kennedy, and the entire Nephron team, have made reducing the American dependence on foreign sources of critical health care-related items, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medications, a top priority. Kennedy joined the governor when he announced an executive order to safeguard South Carolina from supply chain disruptions, such as those caused by countries like China, experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic by working to manufacture even more essential, life-saving products in South Carolina.

A West Columbia, S.C.-based company, Nephron develops and produces safe, affordable generic inhalation solutions and suspension products. The company also operates an industry-leading 503B Outsourcing Facility division which produces pre-filled sterile syringes, luer-lock vials, IV bottles and IV bags for hospitals across America, in an effort to alleviate drug shortage needs. Nephron launched a CLIA-certified diagnostics lab last year where it tests people for COVID-19 and administers vaccinations.

 

 

See the full WOLO story

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) –  Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced equipment arrival for its new plant that is based in West Columbia. The Nephron Nitrile plant will the first in the country to produce American-made, medical-grade first-in-class nitrile gloves

Local and state leaders gathered at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport for the first line of equipment for Nephron Nitrile to arrive. What’s on board will allow the production of gloves to begin within weeks. 

“This is the beginning of a whole lot of these things hopefully shipping right out of this airport and on to others and customers across the country,” says Lou Kennedy, who is the CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

Nephron Nitrile is an expansion of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Kennedy says the plant is near completion, it is an investment of more than $100 million in the Midlands and will bring at least 250 jobs to the area. Governor Henry McMaster credited his executive order that safeguards the state from supply chain issues.

“It’s a dangerous world and the supply chain was disrupted of course by the pandemic. Supply issues can be disrupted by a lot of other things as well. Look at what’s going on in Ukraine, there are some supply chains disrupted there. It is a dangerous world and having the capacity and the ability to do these important things particularly pharmaceuticals things that keep people well, alive, healthy, and happy in our state is enormously important,” says Governor Henry McMaster. 

The plant will produce around 2.5 billion gloves a year. Columbia Metropolitan Airport says it has the largest cargo operations in the state and is always looking for opportunities to expand.

“We’re always exploring new innovative ways to grow our cargo systems process and our overall operations and with announcements like this we feel like we are well on the way,” says Mike Gula, who is the Executive Director for Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

Kennedy says Nephron’s goal is to reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources of -critical- health care-related items. “We found ourselves, all of us during the pandemic without gloves. There’s still a supply chain issue with quality gloves that don’t break when you put them on. We wanted to show that we can and will make things in America and why not South Carolina.”

(Columbia Regional Business Report) Nephron Nitrile is one step closer to starting production of nitrile rubber gloves, an important component of personal protective equipment, in West Columbia.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. launched the glove company in July 2021 to help the effort to boost domestic production of critical PPE for U.S. health care workers.

Early Monday morning, the first glove production equipment from South Korea arrived at Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The shipment included manufacturing lines and will help Nephron Nitrile begin production of the gloves within a few weeks.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and other state and local officials joined Nephron owner and CEO Lou Kennedy to celebrate the shipment’s arrival. Also present was a contingent of business leaders from South Korea, celebrating the country’s technology-sharing agreement with Nephron in getting the plant up and running.

Kennedy said the shipment marked a critical milestone for Nephron Nitrile.

“We are excited for the arrival of this critical equipment but more than that, we are grateful for the partnerships — from South Korea to South Carolina — that have allowed us to make efficient progress over the last year,” Kennedy said. “Now it is time to start making invaluable gloves right here in Lexington County.”

The equipment arrived on what airport officials said was one of the largest airplanes to ever land at CAE: a Boeing B747-8 air freighter flown by cargo specialist Atlas Air. The flight arrived in Columbia at 6:40 a.m. after having made the trip via the South Korean city of Incheon and Anchorage, Alaska.

Kennedy said the successful shipment was the result of collaboration from UPS and CAE officials who helped work out the logistics of bringing such a large plane into Columbia.

Nephron Nitrile will produce the gloves at the Kennedy Innovation Complex, Nephron’s facility in the Saxe Gotha Industrial Park.

Molding forms for the gloves are made by CeramTec, a ceramic and medical technology company with North American headquarters in Laurens.

Kennedy said the pandemic made her passionate about helping to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources for PPE and other health equipment.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals produces and manufactures generic inhalation solutions and pre-filled, sterile syringes through its 503B Outsourcing Facility. Its CLIA-certified lab, which conducted COVID-19 testing for its employees and workers at neighboring businesses, ran low on PPE as the pandemic disrupted global supply chains last spring.

Kennedy and other company officials decided to begin manufacturing nitrile gloves because the gloves were a universal need across many industries.

“At the height of the pandemic nobody had enough gloves — nurses, clinicians, food workers,” Kennedy said. “That’s when we decided we needed to do something to bolster the U.S. supply.”

The short supply of gloves also drove the prices up drastically, causing a box of gloves that regularly sold for only about $3 a box to go up to $30, Kennedy said.

Once Nephron Nitrile is up and running, the plant will produce an estimated three billion nitrile gloves a year.

Kennedy said the goal is to have the first line of gloves completed and ready for testing by the end of September, and then to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of November.

South Carolina female CEOs and entrepreneurs were interviewed on stage by S.C. Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in a casual conversation to discuss their roles, passion and drive during the Inspiring Women Leaders Luncheon in conjunction with the SC Biz News North Charleston Business Expo.

Evette — a female executive herself who founded payroll, human resources and benefits services accounting firm Quality Business Solutions Inc. — welcomed Lou Kennedy, owner and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals, which will add a plant to make Nitrile gloves in the next few weeks.

Starting girls early learning STEM subjects, business and logistics was a topic among the female executives.

“We’ve got to get earlier in the grade level and education system and try to inspire children to pick jobs like supply chain, microbiology, chemistry or cybersecurity and tell them about what we have to offer earlier than past generations,” Kennedy said. “I think most parents and most children don’t understand that manufacturing is not like the turn-of-the-century manufacturing or even from the 1950s and 1960s; we have cool buildings with hip robotics and we’re more like a tech firm.”

Kennedy said Nephron Pharmaceuticals hired a person specifically to arrange school field trips to the plant in West Columbia to inspire the next generation.

“We’ve had 40-50 field trips since she started, kids of all ages — little kids, older kids — and we built a glass viewing corridor, a showcase, to make it student friendly.”

Kennedy said valuable degrees are in supply chain, including shipping, logistics, purchasing and banking and she touted the state’s higher education institutions with offering quality business programs.

Read the Charleston Regional Business Report’s full story.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Aug. 17, 2022) – Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation CEO and owner Lou Kennedy and husband, Bill Kennedy, the company’s chief business development officer, delivered the keynote address at the 2022 white coat ceremony for the College of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

The invitation-only event, held Aug.12 in the auditorium of MUSC’s Drug Discovery Building, is an annual tradition. During the ceremony, 61 incoming pharmacy students were presented with their first white coats, the symbol of clinical service and care. 

Philip Hall, Pharm.D., dean of the MUSC College of Pharmacy, introduced the Kennedys. “Lou and Bill Kennedy are two of the most dynamic figures in South Carolina pharmacy,” said Hall. “They are both outstanding role models for entrepreneurship, innovation and business acumen. The great success they have engendered at Nephron offers inspiration for all students entering our program.”

In their keynote, the Kennedys emphasized the need for the brightest minds and talented young people to continue to pursue careers as pharmacists. 

“Pharmaceuticals has changed since my husband, Bill, graduated. There is unlimited potential for those who realize their own dreams are their only limits,” said Lou Kennedy. “You can be in academia. You can be in regulatory work for a body like the Food and Drug Administration. You can work in drug discovery and help us find new drugs to treat new illnesses or old illnesses, like cystic fibrosis, where a lot of great work is being done here at MUSC.” 

Lou, who holds a degree in public relations, and Bill, a pharmacist by trade, have embraced that philosophy –combining their talents to spur Nephron to unprecedented growth. Today, the state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in West Columbia employs nearly 2,000 people and is a leader in manufacturing generic respiratory medications. “I have used pharmacy in every job that I’ve had since 1966,” Bill Kennedy said. “And still use it every day, so pharmacy is a great education.” 

He also encouraged the students to find opportunities to gain experience in other fields like retail, business and manufacturing. “The intersection of pharmacy, innovation and business is as fascinating as it is rewarding, and the work you have done has equipped you to explore this intersection – and we encourage you to do it,” Lou Kennedy advised the MUSC College of Pharmacy students. “When you do it in a collaborative environment with people you work well with, you’re going to make a difference – and make South Carolina proud.” 

In closing, they offered their congratulations to the Class of 2026 and advised them to take the opportunity to give back. 

“The opportunities you are about to be afforded will open doors for you, and the most impactful thing you can do beyond your day-to-day work is to afford those same opportunities to the next generation of aspiring pharmacists and pharmaceuticals manufacturers,” Lou Kennedy said.

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — ZVerse, an award-winning design technology firm, today announces early access of Revaly, its web-based 3D design collaboration software, which is focused on solving the unique communication challenges between engineers and their non-technical peers and/or clients. With Revaly, everyone can securely view, share and annotate computer-aided design (CAD) models asynchronously or in real-time from any device. 

“Our goal with Revaly is to make design conversations incredibly easy, efficient and enjoyable for engineers and non-technical collaborators,” said John Carrington, CEO of ZVerse.  “Having spent years in the design-for-manufacturing world, we understand the importance of getting feedback early and often from all stakeholders. Revaly offers an approachable user experience for hi-fidelity design conversations that result in happier teams and more productive organizations.”

In January, ZVerse offered Revaly in a closed beta program for organizations from the biotech, industrial manufacturing services, consumer products and education sectors.  Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp., a leading manufacturer of generic respiratory medications, became an early adopter of Revaly for use by their rapidly expanding engineering and manufacturing teams. 

“At Nephron, collaboration between our engineers, machine shop technicians, suppliers and the production floor is critical to keeping our medications shipping to customers.  Revaly streamlines design conversations between our departments better than anything we’ve tried.  Our team loves how easy it is to use and how much time it saves them in design cycles.  Revaly will save our company millions of dollars by having better design feedback earlier in the process,” said Lou Kennedy, Owner and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Bringing Design Reviews into the Modern Era

As remote work has become more ubiquitous, asynchronous collaboration tools for ideation, workflows and huddling have exploded onto the market.  However, 80% of engineers still rely on a combination of email, screenshots and PDFs to collaborate with their product development teams or clients. Communicating on 3D models is complex due to file sizes, software requirements to view, technical skill sets and security considerations. 

“Collaborative engineering and seamless knowledge transfer are the keys to innovation in manufacturing design. Revaly enables true asynchronous design collaboration in a way that is impossible to achieve through email and slide presentations,” said Ramy Harik, PhD., Chief Manufacturing Officer at Nephron Pharmaceuticals. 

To receive early access to Revaly, visit Revaly.com.  Simplify your design conversations today!

About ZVerse

ZVerse, a leader in design and digital manufacturing, developed the first CAD as a Service (CADaaS) platform which is used by thousands of manufacturers and product developers to accelerate their design cycles. In 2020, ZVerse was awarded Fast Company Magazine’s Design Innovation Award.  In 2021, Inc. Magazine listed ZVerse as #1 fastest growing company in South Carolina and #67 of fastest growing companies in the United States on their annual Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies.  In 2022, ZVerse introduced its first software-as-a-service product, Revaly, for better CAD design collaboration.

About Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation

A West Columbia, S.C.-based company, Nephron develops and produces safe, affordable generic inhalation solutions and suspension products. The company also operates an industry-leading 503B Outsourcing Facility division which produces pre-filled sterile syringes, luer-lock vials, IV bottles and IV bags for hospitals across America, in an effort to alleviate drug shortage needs. Nephron launched a CLIA-certified diagnostics lab in 2020 where it tests people for COVID-19 and administers vaccinations. In July, Nephron announced the opening of Nephron Nitrile, a plant that will produce American-made, medical-grade nitrile gloves.

BY BRISTOW MARCHANT

https://www.thestate.com/news/business/article259185098.html#storylink=cpy

Bill and Lou Kennedy consider their first date to be a trip to Blue Marlin in Columbia’s Vista, after a Georgia-South Carolina football game where they first met. While at the restaurant, Lou started asking about Bill’s business, a Florida-based manufacturer called Nephron Pharmaceuticals.

“I asked how many customers he had, and he said ‘three, my old company and two people who used to work for me’,” Lou Kennedy remembers. “And I said, ‘don’t you think you ought to diversify?’ That was the first time we ever met.”

Today, they have been married 20 years, and Nephron is based in Lou Kennedy’s home county, operating on a 715,000-square-foot campus in a Lexington County industrial park. Thousands of workers develop, produce and distribute a wide range of medical products.

Lou Kennedy went from an interested outsider to the majority owner, now overseeing the company’s latest expansion during a time of growing needs in the medical field and a global pandemic.

“I had no science background, just a great work effort,” Lou Kennedy said.

Lou Kennedy, the company’s CEO since 2007, prides herself on being involved in every facet of the business, including its growing range of products.

Bill Kennedy bought the company in 1991.

At the time he was the owner of a home care company and was interested in manufacturing his own drugs. The company received its first FDA approval in 1997, for an albuterol inhalation solution that provided a more affordable alternative for delivering anti-asthma medication. “I consider that the beginning of Nephron,” said Bill Kennedy. But the Orlando-based company blossomed once the two South Carolina natives — Bill grew up in Spartanburg County — decided to shift their operations back to the Palmetto State.

COMING HOME TO SOUTH CAROLINA

The idea of moving Nephron to South Carolina developed because of a chance comment from the state’s governor. In October 2011, the Kennedys were awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, for their work with the College of Pharmacy at the University of South Carolina.

When Gov. Nikki Haley presented the couple with the award, she asked Lou Kennedy why the two South Carolina natives couldn’t move back to their home state, and bring their company with them. “I just said, ‘stranger things have happened,’” Lou Kennedy said.

Lou Kennedy later became frustrated with the regulatory environment in Orlando, Florida, where Nephron was based at the time. Kennedy felt regulators mandated even minor aspects of the company’s building and campus.

She remembers telling her husband, “Why don’t we build in South Carolina? They love manufacturing, they actually want us there, and they have incentives.”

A day or two after the award ceremony, then-S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt was eating dinner with the Kennedys at the president’s house at USC when Lou aired her complaints about doing business in Florida. “Then we became very interested,” Hitt said. “We had so little pharmaceuticals in South Carolina, that we had no real experience” in what it would take to build Nephron here.

But “Lou is indefatigable. She’s a remarkable person with a remarkable drive. In that, she and Gov. Haley share similar traits,” he said.

Sam Konduros is a long-time figure in S.C. economic development who also happened to have gone to elementary school with Lou Kennedy. One day when he was working as a consultant for the Greenville Health System, he got a call from his old childhood friend about the business environment in South Carolina. “We both have pretty strong sense of humor, but I knew she was serious,” Konduros said. “She was dealing with a lot of bureaucracy that seemed cumbersome and unnecessary, when she was trying to create jobs, invest capital, grow, and she felt like she’d get a bigger welcome mat in South Carolina.

“That’s what reconnected us, and produced this storyline in Columbia for the past decade,” he said

Within months of the couple’s meeting with Haley, they had announced their intention to build a Nephron facility in the Palmetto State. And despite looking at sites in Charleston, Fairfield and Richland counties, the company chose its current location in Lexington County’s Saxe Gotha Industrial Park on 12th Street Extension south of Interstate 77.

The site appealed to the Kennedys because of its proximity to USC, a rail spur for moving material and products, and its easy access to both Interstates 26 and 77. Plus, Lou Kennedy had a more personal reason for wanting to set up shop in Lexington County. “This is my hood,” she said.

EXPANDING NEPHRON’S WORKFORCE

The company had around 200 employees when it opened its Lexington County location in the fall of 2015.

Today, Nephron has 1,200 full-time and around 3,000 part-time employees. In the meantime, Nephron has expanded their offerings to include a plant for making medical gloves, a syringe manufacturer and, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rapid production of new test kits. Each new step has not only enlarged the range of products Nephron makes – it’s also expanded the company’s local workforce.

Some of those new employees are in flexible part-time positions, filled by seniors, retirees, young people or even school teachers working a second job.

“I’ve seen teenagers setting down and working next to grandma,” Lou Kennedy said. “They can work any hour of any day assembling at-home COVID test kits. We can make 90,000 to 100,000 in a day.”

The reason the company is able to provide those part-time jobs is workers have the flexibility to work 24/7, nights or weekends, for however many hours they need to.

“We have as many people kitting out at night as during the day,” Bill Kennedy said. They come in to earn the extra money needed to buy a house, pay back student loans, and afford a vacation or presents for the holidays, he said.

Some of those workers have disabilities and were placed in their jobs by the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department. Audrey Brown, the communications director for the state agency, said the partnership came about when she happened to meet a Nephron executive at a conference.

“He said they had needs to fill on kits for COVID testing,” Brown said. “I said we have people who have the skills and need the work.” The agency connected eight of its customers with jobs putting together the badly-needed testing kits, and most of them were subsequently hired full-time, Brown said.

“Like any company, we want to make sure it’s the right fit for them,” she said. “(Nephron officials) were open. They were open to hearing the story and trying something different, because what Vocational Rehabilitation stresses is that disability does not mean inability… You need somebody who can do the work, and … everybody has a place.” And while Nephron has its part-time employees there, supervisors are looking for potential converts to full-time employees, Bill Kennedy said. The company looks for chances to build up a diverse workforce.

 

Lance Rogers, vice president of manufacturing and operations, said the company has found roles for high-functioning employees on the autism spectrum by harnessing their attention to detail for visual inspection of the company’s products.

The company has gained such a reputation nationally that Lou Kennedy was added to the board of the National Association of Manufacturers last year. She was even awarded the group’s Manufacturing Icon Award earlier this year.

“She’s a powerful leader on the board, and in the industry itself,” said NAM president Jay Timmons. “She leads by example. She sees a problem and she just dives right in to solve it.”

Timmons recalls a virtual meeting for manufacturers held during the COVID-19 pandemic that demonstrated Kennedy’s ability to seize a leadership role among other manufacturing leaders.

“Nephron went to a vaccine mandate early,” Timmons said. “A lot of manufacturers were struggling with what to do, but she kind of stood up to her peers and said ‘You’ve got to be fearless, even if it will be painful, even if there’s push back’ … She has a way of finding clarity.”

Bill Kennedy touts a workforce that today is 53% female. The company also has a wall in Nephron’s headquarters that boasts 43 flags “from every country we have an employee from.”

“I have a lot of respect for women in the workplace,” Bill Kennedy said. “They seem like they’re pushing harder than young men these days.”

Zahira Cepero, the Puerto Rican-born vice president of validation, oversees each piece of equipment in the company. “The validations department makes sure everything is working properly, before it produces anything,” she said. “I know a little bit about everything.”

Tyler Barboza, Nephron’s director of logistics, went to the flag wall when he joined the company last year from UPS.

“I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, so I looked for my flag and I found it,” Barboza said. “Diversity makes you a more effective company,” Barboza said. “We’re inclusive, we’re looking for opportunities where everyone feels they can move up, and that drives productivity.”

‘COMMON SENSE’ LEXINGTON COUNTY

That kind of personal development has been a hallmark of what Lou Kennedy has tried to build the business on, starting with herself.

Despite coming into the field without a science background, Kennedy said she works hard to keep herself up to date on each aspect of the company’s business, from logistics to microbiology, determined to be able to hold her own in any conversation.

“I look at each new piece of equipment to know what we may want, what our competition is, what’s the best investment,” she said. “I sit through the purchase process to know why and what we need.”

Before she got involved with Nephron, Kennedy had worked in everything from sales to day care, even modeling fashion when she was in high school and college.

Born in Kingsport, Tenn., she grew up in Lexington County from the age of 2 while her father worked at Eastman. As she’s educated herself about the company and its products, Kennedy has also built her reputation within her industry. The presence of Nephron in South Carolina has benefited the state’s life sciences industry across the board, said Konduros, who serves on the board of SCBIO, a trade and economic development organization for the biotechnology industry in South Carolina, which Kennedy also chairs.

“What’s so cool about Lou is not only is she a champion for her own company, but a champion for so many others,” Konduros said.

That also highlights the impact the Kennedys have had on their home state over the past decade.

“She’s one of the people who came home,” Hitt said. “A lot of people go off and never come back. Lou came back. She has an impact on the state because, as a good executive, she leans into the community.”

For the couple, the decision to come back was an easy one to make, not only because of their commitment to the local community, but also because the business environment in the Midlands made it such an attractive place for Nephron to be. “I give credit to the state and Lexington County for making it easy,” Bill Kennedy said. “They have regulations, but they’re common sense. It’s easy to open a new business.”

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. ─ Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. recently announced a renewal of its partnership with the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science + Mathematics, donating $10,000 to fund research internships for GSSM students.

Unique among high schools in South Carolina and other STEM public residential high schools in the United States, every GSSM student participates in six weeks of professionally mentored research during the summer between their junior and senior years.

This summer, more than 150 students in GSSM’s residential and virtual high school programs will conduct research at universities and businesses throughout South Carolina and around the world.

“We are grateful to CEO Lou Kennedy and Nephron Pharmaceuticals for their commitment to GSSM, recognizing the importance of real-world research experience, and welcoming GSSM students into their research labs and operations. Nephron’s generous $10,000 gift for student research helps ensure that every student has a rich and meaningful research experience,” said Danny Dorsel, GSSM President.

The research that students conduct, and the mentorship they receive during their internship are invaluable learning experiences and often influence the students’ higher education and career choices. Nephron Pharmaceuticals recognizes the importance of preparing the next generation of innovators and leaders and was one of the first businesses to accept GSSM summer research interns and provide them with real-world research experience.

“The Governor’s School’s summer research program is an incredible opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in life sciences. We are so proud to support it and to welcome student researchers. The students who have conducted research at Nephron have made a meaningful impact on our business and our community, and we know for them, as well as for the program, the best is yet to come,” said Lou Kennedy, CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals.

A West Columbia, S.C.-based company, Nephron develops and produces safe, affordable generic inhalation solutions and suspension products. The company also operates an industry-leading 503B Outsourcing Facility division which produces pre-filled sterile syringes, luer-lock vials, IV bottles and IV bags for hospitals across America, in an effort to alleviate drug shortage needs. Nephron launched a CLIA-certified diagnostics lab in 2020 where it tests people for COVID-19 and administers vaccinations.

In July, Nephron announced the opening of Nephron Nitrile, a plant that will produce American-made, medical-grade nitrile gloves.

(SCBizNews) Lou Kennedy admitted to a few flashbacks as she stood in the bright sunlight filling an interior courtyard at Seven Oaks Elementary School on Thursday morning.

“This is where I stayed in trouble, in that corner,” Kennedy, owner and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp., said, gesturing to a honeycomb of hallways.

Kennedy wasn’t headed to the principal’s office on this day. Instead, she joined Seven Oaks students and Lexington-Richland School District Five leaders to dedicate the Nancy Thomas Wood memorial outdoor classroom in honor of her mother, a longtime teacher at the school who passed away last summer.

“I just wanted to do something to honor my mom, and there’s nothing she loved better than inspiring kids to do great things,” Kennedy said. “There are a lot of us that came through her class.”

Kennedy was required to address her mom as Mrs. Wood, just like the rest of the class – which included another future S.C. business leader. Sam Konduros, CEO of Southeast Life Sciences and founder and president of SK Strategies LLC joined his friend since first grade for Thursday’s ceremony and shared his most vivid memory of Mrs. Wood.

“I proudly pulled a tooth one day in class,” Konduros said. “Your mom was so cool. She properly celebrated it – ‘Look what Sam did!’ ”

However, the achievement took a turn when, during class reading time, young Sam stuck that tooth up his nose and had to be escorted to the school nurse by an unfazed Mrs. Wood.

“She said, ‘Class, please stay put’ and dragged me to the nurse,” Konduros said.

In remarks to the crowd, Konduros noted Kennedy’s commitment to public education, reflected in the plaque now standing among the stone benches in the outdoor classroom and in initiatives spearheaded by Kennedy at Nephron. The company has partnered with Clemson University to pioneer the use of robotic technology to prefill, cap and seal sterile syringes for hospitals and medical facilities at its 503B Outsourcing Facility and has donated equipment to Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

In 2019, Kennedy launched Nephron’s educator outreach program, which employs teachers looking to make extra money on a part-time basis. The teachers work around their classroom schedules and responsibilities while pocketing $21 an hour.

She’s also focused on training and retaining talent in her home state.

“These are our future leaders,” Kennedy said with a sweeping glance at the students who participated in Thursday’s ceremony, including a choral group which sang a celebratory song. “These are our employees, our workforce, our future leaders. It’s important to start right from the beginning.”

Burgeoning business leaders roaming in the halls at Seven Oaks Elementary will now pass by the plaque honoring Kennedy’s mother, described as “an educator who nurtured, inspired and loved Lexington 5 students, families and friends.”

“We were in first grade in 1969 when man first walked on the moon,” Kennedy said. “It’s really cool to see that students are still blossoming and blooming here in this same place this many years later.”

In other charitable news, West Columbia-based Nephron Pharmaceuticals has gifted $10,000 to renew its partnership with the S.C. Governor’s School for Science + Mathematics, funding research internships for the school’s students.

A release from the company notes that Nephron was one of the first businesses to accept GSSM summer research interns.

“The Governor’s School’s summer research program is an incredible opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in life sciences. We are so proud to support it and to welcome student researchers. The students who have conducted research at Nephron have made a meaningful impact on our business and our community, and we know for them, as well as for the program, the best is yet to come,” Lou Kennedy, CEO of Nephron, is quoted in the release.

(via Lexington County Chronicle)