On Wednesday, U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. mentioned plans to shut down two manufacturing plants in India. Pfizer had acquired the sites as part of its $15 billion purchase of Hospira Inc. in 2015.
The factories, which produce generic injectables like penicillin, employs around 1,700 workers in the states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The pharma company cited “significant long term loss of product demand” as the reason behind the decision to close the plants. These plants do not make products for the India market.
Additionally, Pfizer is shuttering a Hospira research and development lab in the Indian city Chennai, but spokesman Steven Danehy said that that was unrelated to the shutdown of the aforementioned two plants.
Pfizer also mentioned that it is expanding operations in its Visakhapatnam facility in south India.