WASHINGTON: Erstwhile photo giant Eastman Kodak will launch a new business manufacturing pharmaceuticals amid the coronavirus pandemic, using a $765 million government loan, the company announced Tuesday.

The loan from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will fund the creation of Kodak Pharmaceuticals, which "will produce critical pharmaceutical components that have been identified as essential but have lapsed into chronic national shortage," the agency said in a statement.

The firm, which signed a "letter of interest" with the DFC on Tuesday, will produce "up to 25 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients used in non-biologic, non-antibacterial, generic pharmaceuticals." Kodak, once a giant in the world of photography whose business has struggled in recent years as cell phones have replaced cameras and film, will expand its existing facilities in Rochester, New York and St. Paul, Minnesota.

The company said the new pharmaceutical business will support 360 direct jobs and 1,200 indirectly. "By leveraging our vast infrastructure, deep expertise in chemicals manufacturing and heritage of innovation and quality, Kodak will play a critical role in the return of a reliable American pharmaceutical supply chain," the company's Executive Chairman Jim Continenza said in the statement.