Shire had big ambitions when it built a $400 million biologics plant in Ireland it said would help achieve its “ambition of becoming the world’s leading biotechnology company.” Well, Shire no longer exists. It was absorbed into Japan’s Takeda, which now intends to sell the plant with 200 employees.
The company said in an emailed statement that a review of manufacturing facilities after its $60 billion buyout of Shire found it had excess capacity, so it decided to “divest its biologics facility in Dunboyne.” It said it intends to sell the nearly-new plant as a going concern and does not intend any layoffs.
Takeda said it is shopping the facility around and, given the capabilities of the plant and its workforce, is confident it will be “an attractive asset” to a buyer.
The company pointed out it will keep other facilities in Ireland, including its site in Grange Castle near Dublin.
It last year opened a $42.8 million plant at the Grange Castle site to produce its oral multiple myeloma drug Ninlaro. Takeda also is investing about $30.5 million on a standalone modular cell therapy facility and adding about 70 jobs at the site for the production of a novel stem cell therapy.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to MedTrace for their method of diagnosing the human heart via 15O-water PET. The patented method is the foundation of the company’s software aQuant, currently under development. Hendrik “Hans” Harms, PhD and Senior Scientist at MedTrace, and Jens Soerensen, Professor and Clinical Advisor to MedTrace, are the originators of the method.
Teresa Graham, currently head of global product strategy for Roche pharma, will become the division’s new CEO next month, Roche said Thursday. Simultaneously, Roche is elevating Levi Garraway, chief medical officer, to the executive committee.
Fierce Pharma has obtained internal documents and video of a town hall meeting conducted this week describing what J&J called a “comprehensive review” of its portfolio. Moving forward, J&J plans to operate its vaccines and infectious diseases outfits as one group, the executives explained.
