Boehringer to shut down Petersburg chemicals facility
pharmafile | August 16, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, Petersburg
Boehringer Ingelheim has conceded defeat in its search for a buyer for its chemicals facility in Petersburg, US, and is now making plans to close the plant.
The Virginia facility has been in operation since the 1970s and produces drug substances, intermediates for the pharma industry, and currently serves as the company’s core fine chemicals business unit in the US. Its closure will result in the loss of around 240 jobs, according to local press reports.
In a statement, Boehringer said it would start phasing out production at the plant in December and expects the shutdown to be complete by the end of next year.
The company said that the decision to close the facility came after “an exhaustive review of its current manufacturing capabilities worldwide, as well as needs in the industry, [which] determined that it had more capacity than the marketplace can sustain”.
The future of the facility has been in doubt since Boehringer announced last year that it was closing one production unit at Petersburg with the loss of 100 jobs, and had started to look for a buyer for the remainder of the site.
Active substances made at Petersburg include telmisartan, the active ingredient in Boehringer’s high blood pressure drug Micardis which is a $2 billion-a-year product, but is facing the loss of patent protection in the US in January 2014. It is also a major supplier of methylphenidate used in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“This was a very difficult decision and one that we did not make until we had explored all of our options,” said Boehringer Chemicals chief executive Dr Manfred Psiorz.
“The pharmaceutical industry is going through dramatic changes and manufacturing needs are being impacted by that change,” he added.
Boehringer posted flat first-half sales of €7.1 billion this week, with group chairman Professor Andreas Barner saying that the global market in prescription medicines had ‘almost stagnated’ this year.
Phil Taylor
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