Pfizer said it will try to sell or lease the facility in Grand Rapids to another company, and that production will continue through the end of 2006, according to an Associated Press report. But if no interested parties can be found the plant will be closed down, said the drugmaker.
Pfizer said that having entered into two major mergers since 200, buying Warner-Lambert in that year and then Pharmacia in 2003, the company now has a surplus in manufacturing capacity. It has steadily been reducing the number of plants it operates, and by the end of the year will have reduced its tally to 73 from 93 two years ago.
The Grand Rapids facility has 328 employees and makes a range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for Pfizer, including gabapentin, the active constituent in the company's epilepsy treatment Neurontin. Production will be transferred to other sites, and the company has said that no lay-offs are expected while it seeks a buyer.
However, if no buyer is found, workers likely will not be transferred to other Pfizer locations, unless they apply for and get specific jobs that come open elsewhere within the company, according to AP.
Pfizer is said to be planning to cut some $2 billion in costs and as it faces the prospect of earnings being held back this year by the expiry of patents covering several key drugs, as well as the safety concerns that could dog its arthritis and acute pain medicines, Celebrex (celecoxib) and Bextra (valdecoxib). More details are expected at an analysts' meeting the company is holding on April 5.