Dismay as Sanofi announces UK plant closure
pharmafile | March 15, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing |Â Â Plavix, Sanofi, job losses, manufacturingÂ
Sanofi has decided to close down a manufacturing facility in the North East of the UK with the loss of 450 jobs, thanks to generic competition to its clot-busting drug Plavix (clopidogrel).
The plant in Fawdon, near Newcastle upon Tyne, is scheduled to close its doors in the middle of 2015, according to Sanofi, which said the proposal was “being considered in the context of an adverse economic climate and the challenging pharmaceutical market in Europe”.
Plavix is one of a number of solid oral dose products made at Fawdon, and has already been affected by the arrival of generic competition in Europe.
In 2011 Sanofi reported that sales of the drug in Europe plunged 30% to €574 million, and while sales in the US and other countries managed gains, the loss of patent protection later this year in the US – where Plavix is co-marketed with Bristol-Myers Squibb – is expected to hit Sanofi hard.
The company’s chief executive Chris Viehbacher said last month that patent losses will wipe out around $1.86 billion in sales this year.
The decision to close Fawdon comes as a direct consequence of that revenue fallout, said Sanofi, given that the products made there “have been adversely impacted by other factors, including generic competition, resulting in a fall in demand and production volumes”.
A consultation period is now underway with the staff at the facility and the Unite trade union, which said the decision was a ‘devastating blow for Newcastle’, coming on the day that government data was published showing that the North East has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
Unite regional officer Bob Bolam said: “This is a total shock for the workforce. Sanofi has been at the heart of Fawdon for decades.”
He added that Unite is looking to work with the company to mitigate the losses and is calling on the company to “explore all avenues to try to save these valuable jobs”.
Phil Taylor
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