Over 50 in hospitals after odor hits pharmaceutical company

More than 50 workers at a Lehigh Valley pharmaceutical-packaging company were sent to hospitals Friday after an undetermined odor left them ill.

Emergency crews responded shortly after noon to a hazardous materials call at Sharp Packaging Solutions in Upper Macungie Township, township police said. Emergency personnel were initially told several employees were experiencing nausea, vomiting, and headaches.

Some 54 workers were sent to hospitals, police Lt. Peter Nickischer said.

Nickischer credited the quick work of emergency responders for assessing the situation and treating the ill, and Sharp officials for quickly evacuating workers. He said Sharp employs 154 people at the site, though he was not sure how many shifts the company uses.

Lehigh Valley Health Network checked on 30 patients at two of its hospitals, spokesperson Brian Downs said. There were no serious illnesses, he said, with some patients showing minor symptoms such as headaches. Most showed no signs of medical problems.

St. Luke’s University Health Network spokesperson Sam Kennedy said 22 people were taken to its Allentown hospital. All were stable and were expected to be discharged, he said.

Nickischer said he believed two other workers went to at least one other hospital, but he did not have more specifics.

A company spokesperson said in a statement that the source of the odor came from Building 01 and that the company’s management and environment, health and safety officials are coordinating with local emergency workers to investigate and address the odor’s source. The company also said Lehigh County emergency officials found no evidence of any hazardous chemicals or odors.

“We will remain in contact with local officials and keep our employees informed when we have more to share,” Sharp said in its statement.

Any new information will also be posted on uppermac. org, the township website, Nickischer said.

The company, which is part of UDG Healthcare plc of Dublin, Ireland, has expanded many times in the Lehigh Valley over the last several years, reinvesting in its campus here as demand grew for its specialty pharmaceutical packaging services.

In 2021, Pennsylvania announced Sharp was investing $43 million in its operations in the Lehigh Valley and Montgomery County that will retain almost 1,100 positions and create 335 full-time jobs. The state offered more than $2 million in incentives to aid the project.

In the Lehigh Valley, Sharp owns a pair of buildings in Upper Macungie Township, as well as a facility in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VI in Bethlehem Township it acquired in 2017 from Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Inc. In 2020, Sharp also acquired a 160,000-squarefoot facility in Lower Macungie Township from Quality Packaging Specialists International LLC.

Sharp is one of the two divisions that comprise UDG Healthcare, which also has segments in health care advisory, communications, commercial, clinical and packaging services.