December 17, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
As British-based AstraZeneca continues restructuring, it is closing yet another facility, this one in Avonmouth, U.K. The facility will be closing in 2016 or 2017, cutting more than 250 skilled jobs.
“I understand the business reasons behind the decision but at the same time it’s a great shame the entire plant is closing down,” said Darren Jones, Labour Party parliamentary candidate for the Bristol North-West seat in a statement. “Pharmaceuticals is one of Great Britain’s major industries and it’s a shame we are losing that in Bristol.”
AstraZeneca announced on Dec. 11 that it was also closing its facility in Westboro, Mass., which would would affect about 180 jobs. That facility has been in existence for 33 years and manufactured the company’s pediatric inhaled asthma medication, Pulmicort. The company indicates it is attempting to streamline its global supply chain.
There has been speculation that AstraZeneca is shifting its R&D efforts away from antibiotics and anti-infectives. The company has indicated it will take an “opportunity-driven approach” in its non-core therapeutic areas of infection and neuroscience. Meanwhile, the Pulmicort production was being consolidated to sites in Sweden and Australia.
AstraZeneca has also been tangled up in a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit filed by New York firm Girard Gibbs.
The Girard Gibbs website states, “This class action is brought on behalf of all consumers and third-party payers in the United States and its territories who purchased brand-name Nexium and/or its generic equivalents since April 14, 2008. Plaintiffs seeks judgment that the ‘pay-for-delay’ agreements and unlawful under the Sherman Act and equitable relief for violations of various state antitrust, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment laws.”
The bottom line is the suit is charging AstraZeneca and India-based Ranbaxy Laboratories with colluding to delay Ranbaxy from marketing a generic version of Nexium in order to allow AstraZeneca to maximize profits prior to patent termination. According to a report by consumer interest group U.S. PIRG, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicates there have been as many as 142 brand-name drugs delayed by pay-for-delay arrangements.
Of the U.K. closing, an AstraZeneca spokeswoman said in a statement, “We can confirm we plan to cease active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturing at our Avlon site in late 2016 or early 2018. This is a decision we made as part of a global operations asset strategy review and that has been communicated to staff at the site.”
