INTERNATIONAL TRADE

New Plant in Spain: In a move to expand its European operations, SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday announced the opening of a $17-million manufacturing facility near Spain’s second largest city, Barcelona.

The new facility is part of SPI’s Spanish subsidiary, ICN Hubber, said spokesman Paul Knopick. It will make antiviral drugs, anti-ulcer medications and cholesterol-lowering drugs for the European market, he said.

“This heralds the expansion of ICN Pharmaceuticals and SPI Pharmaceuticals within the new Europe, the unified European Community,” said Milan Panic, chairman and chief executive of both companies, in a statement from Barcelona. ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. owns 70% of SPI Pharmaceuticals.

“This furthers our ability to manufacture products according to European standards,” he said.

SPI, a Costa Mesa manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical products, acquired Barcelona-based Hubber Laboratories in 1987 and changed its name to ICN Hubber. The Spanish subsidiary has annual sales of $26 million and has 280 employees.

ICN Hubber’s facility joins two other SPI European plants in the Netherlands and Yugoslavia.