March 10, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – Pfizer Inc. has reversed a decision to eliminate one of its Lipitor manufacturing sites in Ireland, saving about 130 jobs, RTE News in Ireland reported Tuesday.
The pharmaceutical company said it reversed its plans to shutter the manufacturing site due to increased demand for cholesterol-lowering drug, atorvastatin, sold under the name Lipitor, which is made at the Irish site. RTE News reported Pfizer said demand for Atorvastatin is projected to increase “for the foreseeable future” which made it important to continue manufacturing operations at the Little Island plant.
Lipitor is a statin that lowers LDL-C, the bad cholesterol, while raising HDL-C, the good cholesterol. Lipitor works by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme found in liver tissue that plays a key role in production of cholesterol in the body. Sales of Lipitor dropped in 2012 after generic drug competition began.
Before generics cut into its profitability, Lipitor had been generating about $11 billion in annual worldwide sales. From 1996 to 2012 the medication generated approximately $125 billion in sales for Pfizer. In addition to combating cholesterol, Lipitor can also help reduce risk of heart attack and stroke.
In addition to high demand for Lipitor, Pfizer also said employees at the Little Island site had shown a commitment to reducing costs and remaining competitive as other factors in keeping operations going at the site, according to a report in the Irish Times.
In 2013 Pfizer announced it planned to shutter the facility in Little Island within 18 months, but extended that deadline to the fall of 2015.
When Pfizer announced the closing of the site two years ago, the company said the decision was based on an effort to align manufacturing capabilities, as well as the fact that many of the medications were losing patent protection.
Last year Pfizer opted to keep open another Irish facility in Ringaskiddy that makes the API for erectile dysfunction medication Viagra would remain open after plans to shutter that site had been announced. Like the Little Island site, Pfizer said staff at the Ringaskiddy facility demonstrated a willingness to adapt operations in order to become more competitive.
While the 130 jobs are safe today, Pfizer said the company will continue to monitor supply needs and future changes could affect sites in Ireland or elsewhere.
Pfizer employs more than 4,000 people at eight facilities across Ireland. Total capital investment by the company in Ireland exceeds $7 billion, the Irish Times reported.
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Vertex Pharmaceuticals made news last week when it terminated leases on three properties in Cambridge, Mass, that freed up 313,000 square feet of space in the Genetown area. The company has spent a significant part of 2014 consolidating its operations on the South Boston waterfront, leasing 291,000 square feet of office space at West Kendall Street in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. So we wanted to ask the BioSpace community: Is Boston going to be getting more biotech leases anytime soon, or fewer tenants?
