The costs for Roche to decommission and demolish its former API manufacturing plant in County Clare, Ireland, continue to climb, with the bill now reaching 57.3 million euros ($62.7 million) over a three-year period, according to local reports.
In documents filed with the Companies Registration Office of Ireland, the Swiss pharma giant said it spent 11.53 million euros ($12.6 million) on winding down the facility in 2022. That’s in addition to the 23.4 million euros ($25.6 million) it shelled out dismantling the facility in the previous two years, The Irish Times reports.
Roche also spent 13.18 million euros ($14.4 million) in related environmental costs last year, plus 9.1 million euros in that category through 2020 and 2021, according to the publication.
“The company is continuing with its plan to decommission and demolish its assets,” Roche said in the filing, as quoted by The Irish Times. “It has successfully transitioned from a manufacturer to a construction site commencing the decontamination and demolition works in 2020, which will continue until 2026.”
The plant closure followed Roche’s 2015 decision to change its corporate strategy to focus on bulking up its biologics presence and downsize its small molecule manufacturing capacity.
Unable to find a buyer for the site, Roche in 2019 said it was shuttering the facility, resulting in the loss of 132 jobs. At the time, the company set aside 24 million euros for the employees at the site, which put each of them in line to receive about 180,000 euros in termination payments.