Pharma company completes headquarters move from Houston to Morristown

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A specialty pharmaceutical company has opened its new Morristown headquarters after relocating the operation from Houston, company executives and brokers said.Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc. has signed a long-term, 6,428-square-foot lease for 10 North Park Place under a deal brokered by JLL, the firm said in a news release. The company said about a dozen senior-level executives will occupy the space initially, with the ability to double that number as it continues to make acquisitions in the near future.

Pernix is a publicly traded company with main products including Silenor, a non-narcotic drug for treating insomnia, and Cedax, an antibiotic for middle ear infections. The firm did $85 million in sales last year, but Terry Novak, its chief operating officer, said the company was effectively being relaunched after a change in leadership. So it was important to be in an area with a strong pharmaceutical industry talent pool and near New York City.

“The sales reps obviously are dotted around the country, but our corporate headquarters will be New Jersey,” Novak said in an interview. “That’s why with the space we got, we took more than we needed because we know that we’ll eventually be growing more in that space.”

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Chris Conklin, a member of the JLL team that represented Pernix, said the company was attracted to Morristown because of its downtown amenities and rail access to Manhattan.

“Pernix chose to relocate its corporate headquarters from Houston to Morristown as part of its ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of its operations, and focus on its core sales and marketing strengths,” Conklin, a JLL vice president, said in a prepared statement. The brokerage team also included Associate Jason Benson and executive vice presidents Marc Hirschinger and Mark Siegler.

The building owner, Penobscot Management, was represented by Jon Williams, director, and Joshua B. Cohen, associate director, of Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

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