Pfizer to close German Exubera production plant

Pfizer is closing its Exubera production facility in Frankfurt by mid 2009, having abandoned the inhaled insulin in 2007 as a result of disappointing sales.

The company said Exubera had failed to gain the acceptance of patients and physicians. It stopped distribution in Jan 2008. Since then Pfizer has looked for alternative uses for the site, including using it to produce an existing or a new Pfizer product, making it available to a partner or selling it, but none of the options proved feasible.

Of the 340 staff employed at the site, 165 have left this year, either vountarily or have taken another position within the group. A package of social measures has been agreed for redundancies for the remaining 175 employees.

Besides Frankfurt, Pfizer Germany has production facilities in Freiburg and Illertissen, as well as a site in Karlsruhe for its distribution activities for the German, Austrian and Dutch markets.