Sanofi to shutter 370-worker plant in KC

Sanofi-Aventis is exchanging the "For Sale" sign on its Kansas City plant for another that says, "Closed." After scouting for a buyer for more than a year, the drugmaker is shutting down the facility, which employs 370 people. Workers were told during a site meeting late last week.

Apparently, the drugs made in Kansas City weren't growing fast enough for Sanofi. "There were a number of criteria involved in deciding to close, but ultimately, it was a lack of growth in demand for the products," Jack Cox, a Sanofi spokesman, told the Kansas City Star.  A few potential buyers kicked around the plant, but ultimately the proposals Sanofi got "weren't sufficient to sustain the facility," Cox said.

The phased shutdown will wrap up by mid-2012, and employees will get a transition bonus and assistance in finding new work. "Our priority will be to help employees ... while gradually reducing our manufacturing levels," site leader Osric Kirk Reavis said in a statement. More details to come by the end of November.

- read the Sanofi release
- see the KC Star article

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