December 11, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
British biopharma giant AstraZeneca PLC announced yesterday that it will be closing its Otis Street manufacturing facility in Westboro, Mass., where about 180 people will lose their jobs.
The facility, noted for its three-story glass pyramid, has been in existence for 33 years. The 66-acre facility primarily manufactured a pediatric inhaled asthma medication, Pulmicort. The closing is part of what the company says is the result of attempts to strip down their global supply chain and make it more efficient.
“We did not take this decision lightly,” said AstraZeneca spokeswoman Alisha Martin in a statement, “and it was made after careful consideration of our business strategy, market indicators and the patients and stakeholders we serve globally.”
AstraZeneca was the target of an acquisition by U.S.-based Pfizer (PFE) earlier this year. It fell apart after the U.S. Treasury Department cracked down on so-called tax inversion deals.
There has also beenspeculation that the company will be shifting its research and development efforts away from antibiotics and anti-infectives.
“We have previously said on a number of occasions that we would take an opportunity-driven approach in our non-core therapeutic areas of infection and neuroscience,” said a spokesperson. “This means we would focus our resources on the core therapeutic areas and look for opportunities to maximize the value of our pipeline in infection and neuroscience.”
The closing in Massachusetts is partially the result of the company consolidating its Pulmicort production to sites in Sweden and Australia. The buildings and land have an approximate value of $19.4 million, and personal property within the facility is estimated to be worth $83.2 million. The company’s U.S. headquarters are located in Delaware, but indicates it will maintain R&D facilities in Waltham and Cambridge, Mass.
“It’s certainly disappointing to see them leaving,” said Town Manager James Malloy in a statement. “We made sure they knew we were here to lend assistance, but in the end it was a decision made based on a lot of factors.”
In a related story, on November 25 U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston denied a bid by AstraZeneca and India-based Ranbaxy Laboratories to bring an early end to a collusion lawsuit regarding delays to the generic production of its heartburn medication, Nexium. This was in response to a class action lawsuit filed by New York firm Girard Gibbs LLP, stating that the companies had participated in a “pay-for-delay” agreement that is illegal under the Sherman Act. In other words, AZ is accused of illegally paying Ranbaxy to delay manufacturing its generic version of Nexium.
