Short answer
The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro had 40 pharmaceutical manufacturing establishments in 2023, employing 2,839 people at an average annual pay of $106,333 (Census County Business Patterns). Fulton (14) and Gwinnett (10) counties have the most. The metro also had 178 drug wholesale establishments with 6,633 employees. FDA's file lists 67 registered drug sites, including Baxalta in Social Circle and Dendreon in Union City. The listed drug companies headquartered there are all clinical-stage.
- Drug wholesalers (178 establishments, 6,633 jobs) outnumber and outemploy drug plants (40, 2,839).
- 18 of the 40 plants have fewer than five employees; only 3 published as 100 to 249.
- Gwinnett's 10 plants employ more than Fulton's 14 (1,030 against 706).
- 15 of the 67 FDA registrations only pack, label or relabel.
- Galectin, Alzamend Neuro and Dogwood each reported fewer than 10 full-time employees in their latest 10-Ks.
On this page
This page is for people sizing up Atlanta's drug companies: job seekers deciding between plants, distributors and labs; suppliers looking for customers; and sellers building a Georgia territory. It uses the Census Bureau's Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro, 29 counties from Bartow to Walton.
Three ways to count the industry
The Census Bureau classes a plant, a distributor and a lab in different industries. In County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, the Atlanta metro had:
| Industry (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Drug wholesalers (424210) | 178 | 6,633 |
| Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (3254) | 40 | 2,839 |
| Biotechnology R&D (541714) | 58 | 461 |
The wholesale figure is the one most guides miss. Code 424210 covers merchant wholesalers of drugs, vaccines, blood products and diagnostics, and also of vitamins, botanicals and cosmetics, so not every establishment handles prescription drugs. Even so, the code employs more than twice as many people as the plants. If you're looking for operations, logistics or regulatory work in Atlanta's drug industry, start with wholesalers. Code 3254 also leaves out head offices and research labs, which have their own codes.
The manufacturing figures
NAICS 3254, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area (CBSA 12060):
| Measure (2023) | Atlanta metro |
|---|---|
| Establishments | 40 |
| Employees | 2,839 |
| Annual payroll | $301,879,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 71.0 |
| Average annual pay | $106,333 |
| Share of US establishments | 1.38% of 2,901 |
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 18 |
| 5 to 9 | not published |
| 10 to 19 | 7 |
| 20 to 49 | not published |
| 50 to 99 | 5 |
| 100 to 249 | 3 |
| 250 or more | not published |
The unpublished cells hold 7 establishments between them (our subtraction from the total). By product, 21 establishments make finished-dose pharmaceuticals (325412, 963 employees); the rest make medicinal chemicals and botanicals (8), biological products (6) and diagnostic substances (5), with high-noise employee totals.
| County | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Fulton | 14 | 706 |
| Gwinnett | 10 | 1,030 |
| Cobb | 7 | not reported (high-noise figure) |
| DeKalb | 3 | not reported (high-noise figure) |
"Not reported" means the Census Bureau published the total but flagged it as high-noise: the noise it adds for confidentiality changed the value by 5% or more. The other 6 establishments are in counties with one or two plants each, which the Census Bureau doesn't publish. These are establishments (locations with a payroll), not firms, and the self-employed aren't included.
What FDA's registration file shows
Drug sites register with FDA, which lists them in the Drug Establishments Current Registration Site (DECRS). The 30 October 2026 download has 67 registrations in the metro's counties by our count: 34 that make finished drugs or active ingredients, 15 that only pack, label or relabel, 8 testing labs, 4 medical gas suppliers and 6 others (three PET imaging drug producers, two sterilization sites and a feed mill).
| Area | Registered manufacturers (FDA file) |
|---|---|
| Atlanta and Fulton County | Mikart (two sites), Vero Biotech, Dendreon Pharmaceuticals (Union City), Acella Pharmaceuticals and Avion Pharmaceuticals (Alpharetta) |
| Cobb County | Osmotica Pharmaceutical US (Marietta), Galt Pharmaceuticals, Vero Biotech (Austell) |
| East and outer counties | Baxalta US (Social Circle), Winder Laboratories (three sites in Winder), Newton Laboratories (Conyers), Purac America (Tucker, active ingredients) |
The packers include Gerresheimer in Peachtree City, WestRock Converting in Lithia Springs, DHL Supply Chain in Palmetto and Alliant Pharmaceutical Services in Alpharetta. Registration is self-declared, not an FDA approval, and says nothing about a site's size.
Listed companies headquartered in Atlanta
SEC EDGAR lists six companies in the drug and biological product codes (SIC 2833 to 2836) with an Atlanta-area address. Checked in their latest annual reports, none is a commercial drugmaker:
| Company | Headquarters (10-K cover) | Revenue, latest year | Employees reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galectin Therapeutics | Norcross | none | 9 full-time (28 February 2026) |
| Dogwood Therapeutics | Alpharetta | none | 8 full-time |
| Alzamend Neuro | Atlanta | none (year to 30 April 2026) | 4 full-time, 2 part-time |
Vicapsys Life Sciences of Cumming last filed a 10-K for 2023, reporting two employees, and The Cannaisseur Group of Atlanta reports 3 full-time employees and no 2025 revenue. Mesoblast appears in EDGAR's Atlanta results, but its 2026 annual report gives Melbourne, Australia, as its address. The larger drug employers in the region are subsidiaries of companies headquartered elsewhere: the Metro Atlanta Chamber's life sciences page names UCB and Boehringer Ingelheim. For how the global parents rank, see the largest pharmaceutical companies.
Checking a Georgia drug company
- Licence. FDA lists the Georgia Board of Pharmacy as the agency that licenses wholesale drug distributors; use the board's license verification search for any distributor or 3PL.
- FDA history. Look the site up on FDA's Data Dashboard for inspections, warning letters and recalls.
- Size. Registrations and Census data won't tell you headcount; a company's own filings, a state WARN notice or its careers page will.
- Network. Georgia Life Sciences, the state's trade organization, runs a Career Network, lists career fairs and hosts an annual summit.
Selling to Atlanta drug companies
Most of the market is small. With 18 plants under five employees and many single-site drugmakers, the person who signs is often the owner, the head of quality or a regulatory lead who does both jobs. Distributors buy like logistics companies: operations, compliance and IT.
Worked example: a regulatory consultancy
Illustrative example. The firm and its fees are invented; the counts come from CBP 2023 and FDA's registration file.
Peachtree Regulatory (peachtreereg.example) prepares FDA registration, labeling and quality-system work for small drug companies.
- List the makers. The 34 manufacturing registrations belong to 30 registrants.
- Add the packers. The 15 pack and relabel registrations, whose work is mostly labeling, bring the list to about 45 accounts.
- Do the arithmetic. If all 45 are reached and 1 in 6 buys a project, that's 7 projects at $18,000, or $126,000, with a chance of an annual retainer for the busiest.
Finding the person who owns compliance at a 10-person company is the slow part; Bebop researches each account and suggests who to contact.
Next step: compare a market built on biologics plants and research in the Maryland pharmaceutical market report.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- 2023 County Business Patterns datasets (metro and county files, NAICS 3254, 424210 and 541714), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns methodology (publication rule and noise flags), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Drug Establishments Current Registration Site (DECRS), US Food and Drug Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- DECRS annual registration status download (drls_reg.zip), US Food and Drug Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Check licensure of wholesale drug distributors and third-party logistics providers, US Food and Drug Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- License verification, Georgia Board of Pharmacy, accessed 30 October 2026
- FDA Data Dashboard, US Food and Drug Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Galectin Therapeutics Form 10-K for 2025, Galectin Therapeutics Inc., via SEC EDGAR, filed 31 March 2026
- Dogwood Therapeutics Form 10-K for 2025, Dogwood Therapeutics, Inc., via SEC EDGAR, filed 18 March 2026
- Alzamend Neuro Form 10-K for the year ended 30 April 2026, Alzamend Neuro, Inc., via SEC EDGAR, filed 22 July 2026
- Vicapsys Life Sciences Form 10-K for 2023, Vicapsys Life Sciences, Inc., via SEC EDGAR, filed 21 October 2024
- The Cannaisseur Group Form 10-K for 2025, The Cannaisseur Group, Inc., via SEC EDGAR, filed 23 March 2026
- Mesoblast Limited Form 20-F for the year ended 30 June 2026 (cover page address), Mesoblast Limited, via SEC EDGAR, filed 27 August 2026
- Life sciences, Metro Atlanta Chamber, accessed 30 October 2026
- Georgia Life Sciences, Georgia Life Sciences, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many pharmaceutical companies are in Atlanta?
Census County Business Patterns counted 40 pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing establishments in the Atlanta metro in 2023, with 2,839 employees, and 178 drug wholesale establishments with 6,633. FDA's drug registration file lists 67 registered sites in the metro's counties. SEC EDGAR shows six listed drug companies with an Atlanta-area address; five are based there, all small or clinical-stage.
What pharmaceutical companies have plants in Atlanta?
FDA's drug registration file lists manufacturers including Mikart and Vero Biotech in Atlanta, Dendreon Pharmaceuticals in Union City, Osmotica Pharmaceutical in Marietta, Acella and Avion in Alpharetta, Winder Laboratories in Winder and Baxalta US in Social Circle. Packagers include Gerresheimer in Peachtree City. The registration file doesn't give headcounts, so check each company's own site or filings for size.
Are there big pharma companies in Atlanta?
No large drugmaker is headquartered in metro Atlanta: the listed drug companies based there reported fewer than 10 full-time employees each in their latest 10-Ks. Larger companies operate sites in the region. The Metro Atlanta Chamber names UCB and Boehringer Ingelheim among its life sciences companies, and FDA's file lists a Baxalta US plant in Social Circle.
How much do pharmaceutical jobs pay in Atlanta?
Drug manufacturing establishments in the Atlanta metro paid $301.9 million to 2,839 employees in 2023, an average of $106,333 a year, according to Census County Business Patterns. That's an average across all jobs at those sites. The metro's 6,633 drug wholesale jobs and its research jobs are counted in other industries.