It's a reversal of fortunes for a Pfizer plant in Australia. The U.S. drugmaker has decided to close the facility and lay off nearly 90 workers after announcing expansion plans for the site a year ago.
Pfizer has announced it will close the plant in Adelaide by the end of 2021 as it again consolidates its manufacturing, ABC News in Australia reported. The plant currently has 89 workers.
"This has been a difficult decision, and was based on a number of factors including the existing capacity within Pfizer's global manufacturing network and the efficiency of consolidating manufacturing to fewer locations," the company said in a statement, the news site reported.
The drugmaker announced in March last year it would invest about $15.7 million (AU$21 million) to expand the capacity at the Adelaide plant that makes pegfilgrastim, the active ingredient for Amgen’s cancer drug Neulasta.
It is the second Pfizer plant in Australia to be slated for closure in recent years. The drugmaker in 2015 closed a plant in Sydney, laying off about 140 workers.