Despite job cuts, Pfizer predicts manufacturing growth in 2024

While Pfizer is taking the axe to another 300 jobs, the firm has confirmed it will recruit 230 in Ireland to support overall growth in manufacturing operations next year.

Last week, news outlets reported  Pfizer is shuttering its Peapack, New Jersey plant and two facilities in North Carolina as part of  a $3.5 billion cost realignment effort announced in October following lower COVID-19 demands.

In another move to cut costs, a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical giant told BioProcess Insider it has evaluated its “manufacturing network to ensure capacity is effectively utilized based on product demands.”

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As such, the company said approximately 200 jobs at its sterile injectable facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan and 100 jobs at its single dose plant in Newbridge plant in Kildare, Ireland will be lost. Once again, this is the result of the lower-than-expected use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 products (Paxlovid and Comirnaty).

“Pfizer does not take these changes lightly. All decisions that impact people, processes and initiatives will be made with transparency, compassion, and respect. We also remain committed to our patients and will continue to produce the COVID-19 vaccine to meet demand,” the spokesperson said.

“We will be engaging with our colleagues and their representatives as applicable in relation to the planned changes.”

Added roles

Despite the clear cut back in COVID-19 operations and the spokesperson citing the firm anticipates “further changes through this wider realignment program,” Pfizer remained optimistic it would “see overall growth in our manufacturing operations through 2024.”

Part of its optimism is driven by its decision to add 230 roles at its Grange Castle, Dublin and Ringaskiddy, Cork sites in Ireland, however further specifics were not disclosed.

In November 2020, Pfizer announced it would build a plant in Ringaskiddy to support its clinical trials as part of a $355 million investment in Ireland. And in December 2022, the firm made its largest Irish investment of a $1.26 billion expansion at its Grange Castle biomanufacturing site.

Furthermore, in 2021, the Grange Castle site benefitted from a $40 million messenger RNA (mRNA) expansion to support the firm’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts.