Sandoz, Inc. Closes Med Plant; Cuts 150 Jobs

Drug-maker Sandoz is shutting down its finished medicine development centre in Mumbai. Sandoz recently optimised its development centre network in alignment with its long-term development strategy, to better leverage existing technology and expertise, said Ranjit Shahani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Novartis India Ltd. “The decision to close the centre in Mumbai was aligned to this business strategy with focus on differentiated medication,” he added. Sandoz is Novartis’ generic drugs arm. All employees will be impacted, he said, without giving details. About 150 employees are believed to be associated with the centre. Earlier this year, Sandoz shut its active pharmaceutical ingredients development centre. Employees: Shahani, however, added that they would support employees with future employments. “First, we hope to re-employ as many as possible in Sandoz and other Novartis divisions and the identification of vacancies is under way. If this does not provide the desired outcome, we also provide outplacement support to leverage external opportunities.” Giving the rationale for the shut down, he said, the Sandoz Development Centre was an extension of global development in India which is being reorganised.