GSK is consolidating two of its influenza vaccine manufacturing sites into one, leaving hundreds of jobs at risk.
GSK currently manufactures egg-based flu vaccines in Dresden, Germany, and Ste-Foy, Canada. But citing shrinking demand for traditional egg-based flu vaccines, the U.K. Big Pharma said it will be focusing on its Canadian site, at the expense of Dresden.
The closure is putting 641 jobs at risk, according to German trade union Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IGBCE).
“With decreasing demand for traditional egg-based flu vaccines, meaning we have more capacity than we need, we've conducted a review of the viability of our two flu vaccines manufacturing sites,” GSK said, confirming the closure in a statement to Fierce.
“Following this, we have taken a difficult decision to consolidate operations at one site. We have selected the site in Canada, which can fully match anticipated future demand in a sustainable and competitive way.”
GSK’s flu vaccine business shrank 25% last year amid “competitive pressure” in the U.S., according to its (PDF) full year financials released at the start of the year.
This also comes after GSK said on Sept. 1 that it plans to start a phase 3 trial of its mRNA vaccine candidate with the optimized B-strain HA, FLUm3HA.b-3NA, this month.
This use of mRNA is seen as the next-gen approach to flu vaccines, ahead of egg-based shots.
Six weeks ago, GSK’s new CEO Luke Miels announced a three-year initiative set up to generate 1.9 billion pound sterling ($2.5 billion) in annual cost savings by 2029, against 2.4 billion pound sterling in total one-time costs.
About 15% of the cuts will fall on the supply chain, Miels said back in July. Another 45% of the savings will target simpler processes and better procurement across different systems, consultation services and other partners support functions, the CEO said.
The rest 40% of the major restructuring is focused on reallocating resources from GSK’s mature portfolio to its specialty, novel products, he said.