AstraZeneca PLC to Lay Off 135 in Westborough, Massachusetts

Astrazeneca plc will lay off 135 workers in its Westborough, Mass. manufacturing facility, beginning on May 31 and continuing on an intermittent basis throughout the end of the year. The layoff was disclosed in a notice to state labor officials.

The layoff is part of a worldwide restructuring of the UK-based pharmaceutical company, announced last year which will include a total of 8550 layoffs. The 2010 downsizing followed a first round of restructuring in 2009 which led to 15,000 layoffs, including 113 at the same Westborough facility, which were announced in September, 2009.

The Westborough facility provides supply and packaging for a number of AstraZeneca's sterile injectable, topical and respiratory products, including allergy drug Rhinocort Aqua and asthma treatment Pulmicort Respules.

As of 2009, before the layoffs, Astrazeneca reported it has about 1000 Massachusetts employees split between the Westborough facility and its Research and Development Center in Waltham which specializes in developing treatments for cancer and infectious disease.