Bad news trumps good for MA, AstraZeneca

In a good news/bad news scenario, Massachusetts is getting the bad news first: AstraZeneca will be cutting 113 jobs at its manufacturing plant in Westborough, about 30 miles west of Boston. Cuts begin in October as the big pharma fights generics-maker Apotex, which is producing a knockoff of AZ's Pulmicort Respules asthma drug, says the Boston Globe.

The good news for the Bay State: AstraZeneca expects to open its expanded research facilities in Waltham, a Boston suburb, in November. The expansion brings the facility to 514,000 square feet from its former 380,000.

And some bad news for AZ (and MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis): swine-flu vaccine developer Serum Institute of India says it is "likely" to sell its vaccine for "one-fifth to one-tenth the cost of similar vaccines being made in Western economies," says a Wall Street Journal report.

- here's the Boston Globe article
- read the Wall Street Journal item