Job cuts at AstraZeneca’s US manufacturing plant
pharmafile | May 24, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â AstraZeneca, job cutsÂ
AstraZeneca says it will cut around 135 positions at its manufacturing facility in Westborough, Massachusetts, from the end of this month.
The layoffs are part of a downsizing operation announced by the pharmaceutical major last year which aims to reduce its worldwide workforce by more than 8,500 jobs. However, there are no plans to close the Westborough facility down and it will remain an ‘active site in AstraZeneca’s global supply chain’.
“We will reduce positions because of changes in the site’s product composition, demand and global manufacturing strategies,” said AstraZeneca spokesman Tom Hushen.
The Westborough facility was originally dedicated to manufacturing sterile injectable products but in recent years has evolved into a multipurpose facility capable of supply and packaging for not only parenteral but also topical and respiratory products.
It currently provides supply and packaging for products such as allergy drug Rhinocort Aqua (budesonide) and asthma treatment Pulmicort Respules (budesonide inhalation suspension), as well as gastrointestinal disease treatment Nexium (esomeprazole).
Westborough was also hit by AstraZeneca’s earlier downsizing programme in 2009, when 113 jobs went out of more than 15,000 layoffs worldwide.
At the time, the company blamed the decision on the approval of the first generic rivals for Pulmicort Respules, which has fallen back from being a $2 billion-plus product to one that achieved sales of less $900 million last year.
The latest decision comes as Nexium – which achieved almost $5 billion in sales last year – is also facing patent expiration and the onset of generic competition in the USA.
All told AstraZeneca employs around 900 people in the Massachusetts area, spread between Westborough and a nearby R&D facility in Waltham.
Phil Taylor
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