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Allen McClay, head of drug giant Almac, dies

Allen McClay, founder of drug giant Almac, has died at a Philadelphia hospital. He was 77.

Allen McClay, founder of drug giant Almac, has died at a Philadelphia hospital. He was 77.

An official with the company's suburban Philadelphia division says McClay died Tuesday morning at Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was being treated for cancer since falling ill during a November business trip.

McClay founded pharmaceutical sales and marketing company Galen Ltd. in 1968. He later folded the company into the Almac Group, a Northern Ireland-based company that employs 2,500 people in Britain and the United States.

Almac serves the pharmaceutical industry in a number of ways, including managing the clinical-drug supply chain.

The company is building a $79 million North American headquarters in Lower Salford expected to be completed by August. It will replace Almac's Pennsylvania operations in Audubon and Yardley.

Almac also has U.S. offices in Durham, N.C., and in San Francisco.

McClay was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2005.

He is survived by his wife, Heather.