Cork Pfizer plant set to close in August
Pfizer has confirmed its plant in Shanbally, Co Cork is to close in August with the loss of 75 full-time jobs if they are unable to find a buyer for the facility in the intervening months.
The pharmaceutical giant also revealed they have been unable to sell their plant in Little Island to another drug manufacturer as a going concern. It is now on the market as a ‘commercial property opportunity’.
Last May Pfizer announced they were exiting both the Shanbally and Loughbeg plants. The exit deadline for the Shanbally biopharmaceutical facility was originally 2013, but that has been changed to this August.
A spokeswoman for the company said the exit date for the Loughbeg facility, which employs 225 full-time staff, remains “most probably” in the second quarter of 2012.
She added: “Our intentions remain to seek buyers for both the Loughbeg and Shanbally facilities and preserve jobs at the sites. We are working with the IDA and actively marketing the facilities internationally. As we are in the midst of our marketing activities it is not appropriate to comment on potential purchasers or their interest in either facility.
“We remain committed to doing all we can to achieve a successful site sale outcome for each facility. Recent successes we can point to include the sale of our Dublin and Loughbeg API sites to new pharmaceutical investors in Ireland.”
She added when Pfizer announced their plans regarding the Irish sites last May, the company indicated that “colleague exits would occur on a phased basis across sites as we planned wind-downs, but at the same time sought buyers. This situation has not altered.”
Regarding the Dunkettle facility at Little Island, which closed 12 months ago, the spokeswoman said: “Despite best efforts we were unable to find a buyer who wished to continue the facility as a going concern. All colleagues have exited this site and it is on the market as a commercial property opportunity.”
Amgen, the world’s largest biotechnology company, last week agreed to purchase a Pfizer manufacturing facility in Dun Laoghaire. In doing so, they safeguarded the futures of the 280 workers at the site.
