Janssen’s facility in Vacaville, California, is set to close and the company has begun the process of reducing its workforce at the site. The initial layoffs amount to 49 members of staff, which will be made effective mid-way through this month.
Janssen’s parent company, Johnson & Johnson, picked up the large-scale manufacturing facility in 2001, with its acquisition of Alza.
The site produces Duragesic (fentanyl transdermal system), a skin patch that delivers pain relief over 72 hours – a product that already has generic competition and has had safety issues that required company action.
In the same WARN notice, it was also revealed that Charles River, a clinical research organisation (CRO), would also be closing a facility in San Diego, with 24 staff members losing positions as a result of the decision.
For Vacaville, the job losses at the Janssen site are not the first of such difficulties faced – with Genentech reducing headcount at its own 427,000ft2 biomanufacturing facility in the city by 130, just over a year ago.