FDA to Move L.A. Operation to Irvine in ’95 : Regulators: The federal agency also plans to build a state-of-the-art laboratory in O.C. More than 100 employees will be affected.

As part of an ongoing nationwide consolidation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it will move more than 100 employees to Irvine from Los Angeles in March and is seeking property to build a laboratory nearby that will replace an aging facility in Los Angeles.

The FDA, which regulates the safety and efficacy of foods, drugs and cosmetics, said it will move its administrative, compliance and investigative office employees from a building on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles to Newport Gateway Towers, a two-building complex on MacArthur Boulevard near Jamboree Road.

The agency said it is advertising for a 10-acre tract of land in Orange County where it will build a 185,000-square-foot laboratory.

Though the office staff will move in 1995, it will be at least two years before the 40-person laboratory staff transfers to Orange County, FDA spokesman Don McLearn said.

The moves are part of an FDA restructuring designed to reduce the number of agency facilities across the country. The FDA now has 18 laboratories, some which opened 50 or more years ago, McLearn said.

When the consolidation is completed, the agency will have about half that number. FDA officials say that the consolidation will improve laboratory services because the remaining locations will be state-of-the-art facilities.

Five of the remaining labs will specialize, with areas of expertise including seafood products research, nutritional analysis and toxic research. The Orange County facility will be one of four full-service laboratories.

“Given today’s fast and reliable transportation, there is no need for each facility to meet the entire spectrum of scientific requirements,” a recent FDA staff report said.