Cuts were certain after trial drug failed
With the trial drug, torcetrapib, accounting for about 40% of the company’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) capacity in Ireland, cuts were inevitable when the anti-cholesterol medication didn’t win approval in the United States from the federal drug administration (FDA).
The three plants affected by the manufacturing cutback are at Ringaskiddy, where one of four API units is being closed down with the loss of up to 65 jobs; Loughbeg where the API operation, which employs 300 people, is being put on the market; and the API facility at Little Island, with 180 employees, which is also going up for sale.
Pfizer said that it was hopeful that some of the 65 employed at the Ringaskiddy unit could be employed elsewhere on site, and that the staff affected at the other two Cork plants might be employed if they succeeded in getting buyers of the manufacturing units.
“When people are buying sites like these, the people (employees) are as valuable as the sites,” said Paul Duffy of Pfizer management in Ringaskiddy yesterday.
He pointed out that both of the for-sale units are FDA-approved and EPA-licensed.
The setback with torcetrapib left “a big gap”, Mr Duffy said. “People are talking about costs, or Pfizer running away from Ireland, but we’re not. What you have right now is a need to correct and address our capacity issues.”
He denied that cutting costs or relocating jobs to a lower-cost country were issues relevant to yesterday’s announcement.
Other products, such as Lipitor and Viagra, will continue to be manufactured in remaining API facilities in Cork. The API operations make the active ingredients for Pfizer’s portfolio of drugs — the powder that goes into the tablets or capsules.
At Loughbeg, the company employs 300 people in the section of its property used to manufacture API, and hopes to sell the site by the end of 2008. The Little Island plant should be sold by the end of 2009.
Also in Loughbeg, Pfizer manufactures Lipitor, an established anti-cholesterol medication which is reported to be the top-selling drug in the world. This plant was not hit by yesterday’s announcement.
Not affected either is the company’s sterile manufacturing plant in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, which has undergone a €250 million expansion in recent years. A wide range of employee types work at the three API plants, including scientists, engineers, operators and craft workers.
