Novartis AG Discloses More Layoffs At New York Plant
September 18, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. has provided the state of New York’s Department of Labor additional information regarding layoffs at its Suffern, NY facility.
Starting December 31, 2014 will begin a two-week period, resulting in laying off 83 employees.
In January of this year Novartis announced plans to close the facility over the course of two to three years, completing shutting downsometime in 2016.
In total, 525 employees will lose their jobs. Some of those 525 will be transferred to other Novartis locations.
The first phase of the shut-down laid off about 200 people. This second phase will affect 83.
The Suffern facility is on Route 287 near the New York-New Jersey borders. It manufactures Diovan (valsartan), a blood pressure medication.
In 2012 the patent for Diovan expired, pushing it into the so-called “generic period.” India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories (RBXY:IN) acquired the exclusive right to manufacture and sell Diovan for the first six months of the generic period.
However, the FDA’s safety regulators had issues with Ranbaxy’s Indian facilities, and the company was not able to market the drug.
In 2011, Diovan alone generated $5.7 billion worldwide.
Recently Basil, Switzerland-based Novartis announced positive results in Phase 3clinical studies of LCZ696, an investigational combination drug made up of valsartan and sacubitril in a 1:1 combination.
Part of the PARADISM-HF study, LCZ696 was compared to enalapril, an ACE inhibitor, in 8,442 patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF).
The study found the combination drug reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 20 percent, reduced heart failure hospitalizations by 21 percent, and reduced the risk of all-cause mortality by 16 percent.
"By demonstrating a very significant reduction in cardiovascular deaths while improving Quality of Life, Novartis’ new heart failure medicine, LCZ696, represents one of the most important cardiology advances of the last decade," said David Epstein, division head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement.
So while it’s clear that manufacture of Diovan (valsartan) is still part of the Novartis business plan, the Suffern facility’s involvement is ending.
The company has indicated that the Suffern plan closing is part of a company-wide reorganization, the goal to support the launch of new products, including generic and name brand respiratory drugs, as well as drugs for heart disease, lung cancer and skin disease.
In 2010 Novartis also made widespread restructuring changes resulting in cutting 1,960 jobs in the U.S.