Final curtain for Shasun in Scotland

A total of 86 staff lost their jobs as a result of the closure. Last October, Shasun said the UK facility – which operated as Shasun Pharma Solutions Ltd (SPSL) - would be shuttered and products manufactured at the site would be relocated to alternative locations.

The site, at Newbie, offered custom development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, and was one of two facilities operated by Shasun in the UK. The other is in Dudley, Northumberland, and is still operating, providing pilot to commercial-scale production of APIs and intermediates.

Shasun aligned its facilities so that research would be conducted in India, while development and manufacturing at kilo laboratory and pilot plant scale could be conducted either in the UK or India. That has made it easier to take the tough decision to rationalise production.

The prospects for further development of the UK operation were dealt a blow when Shasun announced plans to invest in a process development facility in

Piscataway, New Jersey, US, in January 2008. That came on the back of operational problems at the Annan facility that impact Shasun’s 2007 financial results.

A team of 30 staff will stay on at Newbie until June to dismantle the facility, and the hope is that a buyer may still come in and buy the plant.

According to SPSL president Kevin Cook, who told local press that at the moment a buyer interested in maintaining pharmaceutical manufacturing at Newbie is still in the running.