The $5.3bn (€4.1bn) acquisition of Amylin Pharmaceuticals last year added new products and manufacturing capacity to Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) diabetes business.
Now, nine months on, BMS, has announced it intends to shutter Amylin’s ex-headquarters in San Diego, US by the end of 2014.
BMS spokesman Frederick Egenolf told in-Pharmatechnologist.com that the move would impact staff employed at the Amylin site, explaining that: “We are eliminating redundant positions in order to simplify our operations, reduce costs and increase our efficiency.
He went on to say that “By the end of 2014, we plan to have all work being done in San Diego transitioned to other Bristol-Myers Squibb sites,” adding that “Amylin employs about 420 people in San Diego. Most work in commercial, R&D, manufacturing, corporate staff and administrative roles.”
According to Egenolf an estimated 100-125 employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to the other sites, whilst the rest – mostly in commercial, corporate staff or administration – would be offered severance packages.
He also warned that “there will continue to be staffing reductions throughout the integration process.”
Diabetes JV
BMS has been collaborating with AstraZeneca to develop diabetes drugs since 2007 and the 2012 purchase of Amylin was seen as a positive boost to a dwindling development pipeline and a number of regulatory setbacks.
The two companies received a complete response letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin, in January 2012 (though it did get the thumbs up from European regulators late last year).
At the time of the takeover, AstraZeneca interim-CEO, Simon Lowth, said the deal provided partner BMS with “an excellent platform to unlock the potential of Amylin’s differentiated treatments.”
Amylin assets high-lighted by AstraZeneca at the time included its GLP-1 franchise and two insulin analogs as well as its sterile commercial manufacturing facility in Ohio. No mention was made of the San Diego site.