Sobi to trim staff as Pfizer manufacturing contract ends early

Sobi will trim staff at its Stockholm manufacturing facility later this year as the company begins winding down operations there. The move comes in response to Pfizer's decision to move production of hemophilia drug ReFacto to its own operations in Ireland.

The rare disease specialist said the downsizing will begin in the second half of 2022, with the last deliveries of ReFacto to Pfizer scheduled for early 2024. Sobi plans to cut about 80 positions over the next two years, the company said.

The amended contract with Pfizer is set to expire in the first quarter of 2024, earlier than the previously set date of the end of 2025.

ReFacto accounted for 445 million Swedish krone ($47 million) in sales for Sobi in 2021. Sobi doesn't expect the news to affect its financial outlook for this year. Revenues are “expected to be compensated for by productivity improvements beyond 2023,” the company said in a statement.

Sobi, which has manufactured ReFacto and its predecessor since 1998, said other companies currently handle production of its own medicines. The shuttering of the Stockholm facility won’t affect the supply of its products, the company said.


Last year, Sobi welcomed a $7.6 billion buyout offer from Advent International and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. But the deal didn't go through as AstraZeneca, which owns an 8% stake in Sobi, scuppered the deal, Bloomberg reported.