Pfizer announces closure of its Australian facility

Global pharma giant Pfizer recently announced its plans to close an Australian manufacturing plant by 2021 that produces, an intermediate of a biosimilar to Amgen's Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), which is taken following chemotherapy to boost white blood cell counts.

Located in the South Australia city of Adelaide, the facility has a staff of 89 and came under Pfizer's ownership after the company bought Hospira for $17 billion in early 2015. As per reports the firm will shift the production to Croatia and the 89 employees will be deployed elsewhere.

"As part of the integration of Hospira into the business, we conducted a thorough evaluation of the combined manufacturing network to ensure that overall capacity is most effectively utilized relative to projected product demands. As a result of this evaluation, we have made the decision to exit the legacy Hospira plant," a company spokesman said.

Earlier the company had announced that it will revamp the production at the Adelaide facility by pumping in AUD$21 million (USD$16 million) to give the facility a technology face-lift and "secure 100 hi-tech jobs and contribute to global cancer treatment."

"The upgrade not only secures 100 local hi-tech manufacturing jobs, but will provide work for local manufacturing contractors managing the development and local tradespeople contributing to the highly complex and advanced fit-out," Jack Snelling, South Australia's health industries minister, said in a March 2016 statement. However, in line with its reorganization plans, Pfizer revised its plans and announced closure of the facility.