Teva to shutter IV bag manufacturing facility in Ashdod, Israel

Teva, which is in the midst of a $3 billion cost-cutting corporate reorganization, will shutter its manufacturing facility in the Israeli port city of Ashdod by March 2019.

Teva will let go of about 175 workers at the facility, which primarily makes IV bags, in the coming months before it permanently closes the plant a year from now, Reuters reported. The plant had been for sale, but Teva officials told the news agency a buyer for the site couldn’t be found.

“The Teva Ashdod plant is part of the reorganization process being carried out in Israel and around the world in order to reduce the cost base due to the heavy debt the company faces and the complex business circumstances it is dealing with,” Teva told Reuters in an e-mail. “Teva has examined the possibility of selling the plant in recent months but unfortunately no suitable buyer was found.”

Teva announced the restructuring late last year, saying it would cut 25% of its global workforce, or about 14,000 employees, and close 20 to 25 of its 80 manufacturing sites around the world in the next two years. The company rang up nearly $35 billion of debt after shelling out $40.5 billion to buy Allergan’s Actavis generic drug business in 2016.

Earlier this year, Teva CEO Kåre Schultz told analysts at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that ultimately the company will close or sell about 40 of its manufacturing sites to achieve sustainable profitability.