Both the plants are purely export oriented sites and do not supply products for Pfizer’s India commercial operations, it added.
The IKKT unit manufactured generic injectable cephalosporin, penems, and penicillin for the US, the EU and rest of the world markets. It also produces branded Maxipime. The Aurangabad site also supports IKKT by supplying penems and penicillin.
Pfizer operates five manufacturing sites in India and the country will continue to be an important manufacturing location for Pfizer worldwide.
“This announcement does not affect our other Indian manufacturing sites in Goa, Visakhapatnam and our joint venture site (with Cadila Healthcare), ZHOPL (Zydus Hospira Oncology), in Gurgaon. The company's Vizag site is being expanded into a global terminally sterilised manufacturing centre of excellence. It will cater to export markets, such as the United States and eventually to Canada,' the spokesperson added.
Pfizer, the US-based pharmaceutical giant, will shut down manufacturing operations at two plants of its subsidiary Pfizer Healthcare India Pvt Ltd.
These plants are located in Chennai and Aurangabad. Pfizer said the step is being taken due to loss of product demand. The closure is likely to impact nearly 1,700 workers.
At present, its Irungattukottai unit in Tamil Nadu employs approximately 1,000 workers and the Aurangabad site in Maharashtra employs around 700. The exact time of the closure of these sites is yet to be determined, the drug major said.
The recommendation to exit both the sites is the result of a significant loss of product demand making manufacturing at these sites unviable, the company said.
The plants had been part of its acquisition of US-based Hospira in 2015.
“Pfizer has conducted a thorough evaluation of the IKKT (Irungattukottai) and Aurangabad sites and concluded that due to the very significant long-term loss of product demand, manufacturing at these sites is not viable. As a result, both sites will immediately cease manufacturing with the intention to exit as soon as possible in 2019. The exact timing of the exit is to be determined,” PTI reported, quoting a Pfizer spokesperson.
The Telegraph
