Pfizer to close Sandwich plant
1 Feb 2011 by Evoluted New Media
Pharmaceuticals company Pfizer are to close their research and development facility in Sandwich, Kent with the loss of the 2,400 jobs.
Pharmaceuticals company Pfizer are to close their research and development facility in Sandwich, Kent with the loss of the 2,400 jobs.
The closure is part of the company’s global programme to create a more focussed and sustainable R&D machine and follows the closure of manufacturing operations in Sandwich in 2007.
The majority of the workforce will be made redundant over the next two years say Pfizer, but they hope to transfer several hundred positions to other sites and other companies doing work for Pfizer. The company has also said that they hope R&D will continue at the site with a ‘partner organisation’.
Business secretary Vince Cable said the decision was extremely disappointing:
“The company has been clear that this decision was part of its global programme of change and not based on the judgement of the UK as a location for pharmaceutical research.”
Cable said he will be meeting with Pfizer, other companies and local representatives “as a matter of urgency to discuss innovative ideas for continuing R&D activities in this very well-equipped facility.”
The Sandwich plant is Pfizer’s biggest R&D facility in Europe and houses research and development on allergy and respiratory drugs. It has been it base for drug discovery since 1954 and is responsible for some of the company’s most successful medicines including Viagra, cholesterol drug Liptor and heart drug Norvasc.
In May 2010, Pfizer announced the a cut of 6,000 jobs worldwide, the closure of eight plants – including three in Ireland – and the scaling back of operation in six others, including Newbridge, County Kildare and Havant.
