Pfizer to Close UK research centre

[ckember]

Pfizer have announced the closure of their research facility in Sandwich Kent today. This is a major blow to the UK . If anyone on here is affected I am sorry to hear this news..
My parents started dating after a trip to the site back in the 60's. Also they are are a major customer of ours ion the UK.

 

[grober]

It was a research group at Pfizer lab in Kent that first developed a little known drug for treating hypertension. During its first clinical trial it was discovered it had a rather "interesting" side effect. The drug was Sildenafil Citrate better known as VIAGRA!

 

[ckember]

yep they used our systems to help test it when in development

 

[Palfrem]

What "systems" would they be then.........

 

[tylerdurden]

Very very bad news for the UK. They are going on and on about how this has nothing to do with the UK etc, but I don't believe it. My gut instinct tells me its cheaper to move these operations out of the UK.

 

[Godot]

Two neighbours opposite & another couple a little further on are employed at Sandwich. Horrendous News, the ones opposite had only moved in a few months ago, first time buyers too, really feel for them

 

[Chrishazle]

When 2400 well paid people get laid off, even the local Tesco's will feel the effect, never mind the other shops and businesses (including pubs, restaurants and local chippy) that rely either on their contracts with Pfizer or on money spent in their shops by Pfizer employees. It's one thing to loose low paid textile jobs to China etc, but these are highly qualified well paid jobs and people loosing out to international competition. Real bummer for east Kent - which happens to be where I live - and I've got a horrible feeling my next door heighbour is their purchasing manager.

 

[Alfie]

Very very bad news for the UK. They are going on and on about how this has nothing to do with the UK etc, but I don't believe it. My gut instinct tells me its cheaper to move these operations out of the UK.

I agree. UK is uncompetitive and this is just the start of things. All the time we live in a society where unions dictate ridiculous wage demands (eg train drivers getting £70k PA!) we will remain and possibly get worse at being competitive. Very sad.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I agree. UK is uncompetitive and this is just the start of things. All the time we live in a society where unions dictate ridiculous wage demands (eg train drivers getting £70k PA!) we will remain and possibly get worse at being competitive. Very sad.

So you think that people should work for peanuts to keep their jobs, this reducing their quality of life?
The unions are nowhere near as 'powerful' as they were in bygone years.
Whilst I'm no fan of how hardcore some union reps can be, they do a lot of good for people who otherwise wouldn't be heard.
So it's unfair to paint the UK as some sort of communist state....

 

[grober]

I doubt very much that Pfizer in Kent had any significant "Union Presence" among the work force and that many of their research scientists received anything like £70k a year remuneration. My guess is that the drug regulatory environment in Europe may be part of the reason. As many of the major drug companies big drug earners "come off patent" they are closing their expensive development programmes to maintain profitability to their shareholders. They then restrict research to "growth areas" where they perceive the big bucks to be in developed countries - at present neuroscience and oncology. The drug companies would like you to think its about searching for drugs to cure disease but really its about money. The Day - Pfizer laying off 1,100 locally as it cuts R&D expenses | News from southeastern Connecticut

 

[Aoraki]

£70k peanuts

I wish I earned peanuts then

 

[timwood2000]

This is undoubtedly a great shame for all concerned. I have no connection, but spend quite a bit of time in the area. Apart from the social impact of this closure, inevitably there will some kind of new town or major housing development put on the site - which if you have ever seen it, covers a huge area next to Sandwich.

This is going to be awful for those employed locally and those who rely on the related trade - this is not an area of Kent awash with jobs.

 

[whitenemesis]

Very very bad news for the UK. They are going on and on about how this has nothing to do with the UK etc, but I don't believe it. My gut instinct tells me its cheaper to move these operations out of the UK.

Or quite possibly the fall-out of the reorganisation after the purchase of Wyeth in 2009. Many duplicated resources but in Sandwich's case the portfolio has been 'rationalised'. Pfizer has shifted it's research focus and the facilities and to some extent the skill sets, in Sandwich just don't fit
Sandwich has been slowly reduced in size over the last 4 years with many more than 2500 jobs being shed over that time.

This closure will be devastating to the local economy and for those loosing their jobs. Imagine 1000 people trying to sell their homes to move to a more job rich area. Why would anyone move into the area now?

 

[verytalldave]

I agree. UK is uncompetitive and this is just the start of things. All the time we live in a society where unions dictate ridiculous wage demands (eg train drivers getting £70k PA!) we will remain and possibly get worse at being competitive. Very sad.

A person I work with, her husband helps maintain underground trains and is basically a semi-skilled mechanic.
His basic pay is £49K pa.

Not that I begrudge anyone a good wage, but you do have to retain a sense of realism in todays world to maintain the status quo.

 

[Mr E]

There's a number of things that come into play:

1. Ease of which you can do this in the UK;
2. High cost of employment;
3. Consolidation of global operations.

The biggest play, outside of cost, would probably be skills availability. Compare the number of people coming out of the UK education system each year with robust qualifications that can be used in R&D with the numbers in the far east.

Whilst sad, it's somewhat inevitable.

 

[kwakdonut]

It is dreadful news for that area of Kent - many employees also live in the Thanet area which in itself has high unemployment already. Already a run down area (I grew up there) this will not help. The succesive councils in that area have destroyed the seaside holiday trade and now rely on out-of-town shopping precincts and ridiculously expensive, hideously ugly and pointless 'art' centres (Margate's Turner Contemporary sets opening date for April 2011 | Culture24) £50mil+ in an area awash with few jobs and little interest in a white elephant such as this. Money that could have been better spent of regenerating the area instead of gambling on this ugly behemoth....
Very sad

 

[MOCAŠ]

The succesive councils in that area have destroyed the seaside holiday trade and now rely on out-of-town shopping precincts and ridiculously expensive, hideously ugly and pointless 'art' centres (Margate's Turner Contemporary sets opening date for April 2011 | Culture24) £50mil+ in an area awash with few jobs and little interest in a white elephant such as this. Money that could have been better spent of regenerating the area instead of gambling on this ugly behemoth....
Very sad

I'm not familiar with the area, but according to a recent BBC news item I saw, the gallery is the centrepiece of a much broader regeneration programme aimed at restoring Margate's reputation as a destination/holiday resort. If it succeeds in attracting tourists in the manner intended, then it will do wonders for the local economy, so hardly a white elephant. That's not to say that the loss of a large local employer can be ignored, of course.

 

[Satch]

This is not about science, jobs nor the UK really but how big multinationals operate and what really pushes their buttons.

Now the real problem is that over recent years Pfizer has bloated up massively and paid a lot for that pleasure.

In November this year one of their big sellers, Lipitor, loses U.S. patent protection and over the next couple of years a significant number of other "big" Pfizer drugs lose U.S. patent protection as well including Viagra. Not good, which is why they grabbed on to Wyeth and paid $68Bn for the pleasure and borrowed over $25Bn in the process.

But that did not pan out as expected. Something had to give

Exit old CEO after a classic but silent Boardroom punch up over "management style" and "personal reasons" enter new CEO and long term Pfizer man, Ian Read, (who is a Scot and former COO BTW)

The real issue is that he is under huge pressure from institutional investors to jack up a somewhat dismal share price, which has been lagging the sector by about 20%

So, what to do? The answer appears to be a big shift in strategy backing away from spending so much on early stage research (big costs, no guarantee of a viable product) in general, outsourcing a lot of reasarch, thus enabling him to announce a 23.5% reduction of R&D spend in 2012 and going for "tactical" purchases of smaller drug companies who have developed or are developing what look like winners.

Also announced for 2011 a spend of $5Bn on a share buy back. Share price immediately jumped 6%

So for a company like Pfizer Sandwich is just a pawn on the global chessboard. Vince Cable can crap on all he likes, enter into talks and offer all manner of "incentives" to look like the Government can somehow influence the outcome, but the deal is done.

 

[kwakdonut]

I'm not familiar with the area, but according to a recent BBC news item I saw, the gallery is the centrepiece of a much broader regeneration programme aimed at restoring Margate's reputation as a destination/holiday resort. If it succeeds in attracting tourists in the manner intended, then it will do wonders for the local economy, so hardly a white elephant. That's not to say that the loss of a large local employer can be ignored, of course.

If you took a trip down there, you will immediately see where the money could have been better spent. The council for years has been corrupt and has turned down many offers to revamp the area and 'restore' it's former glory. Instead, they have destroyed both Margate and Ramsgate town centres with the terrible Westwood Cross shopping area. Both town centres really are like ghost towns with many, many boarded up properties.
Two of the iconic hotels are now apartments or hovels for our immigrant friends.
If you look at the photo of the Turner Centre, it is immediately apparent that the building isn't remotely in keeping with the still-very Victorian seafront and harbour area.
Yet the council would happily reject your application for a garden shed in your back garden.
I still have many friends in the area who ALL feel the Turner Centre will do nothing for the area. With the news of Pfizer closing, this will do nothing to 'stimulate' regeneration in the area.

It's such a shame, I have so many happy memories of growing up by the sea, spending all my summers on the beach playing. It always makes me sad when I visit to see my 'home' town in such a terrible state having been subjected to almost 30 years of neglect.

Even my local football club, Margate FC (whom I still support!) have spent almost 10 years fighting to get planning permission for a new stadium only to see application after application turned down by the council. It was only with the standing down of one particular councillor did they finally get approval.

There is practically no industry in the area and apart from the rather-always-failing airport, the only real work is in retail. And we all know how well paid that is! Not.....

I like art but there is no way I would travel to a run-down seaside resort to visit a bloated, over-budget art centre when I could easily go to London and take my pick of cultural venues.

That's why I have my reservations that it would even remotely attract regrowth and regeneration.

Sorry for going OT but I feel very strongly about the area I grew up in. My job means I live elsewhere but doesn't mean I feel any less about where I come from.

 

[Satch]

My family used to live in Broadstairs and a family friend worked at Pfizer in Sandwich until last year. Moved to another company in Cambridge and now very, very glad he did even though it was a difficult and unpopular decision for his entire family.

Gave him a call just now and his take on it is:

1. More Admin. staff work at Sandwich than scientists. (Far, far too many in his opinion.)

2. Big culture of trying look/prove themselves busy at any price. Could be a nasty place to work at times, lots of internal politics.

3. Stories of "issues" associated with the site that were starting to cause some headaches at a corporate level. never a good place to be.

4. Anybody with half a brain must have known something like this was inevitable in UK and US once Pfizer opened more research centres in China last year.

5. Majority of his former colleagues, as is often the case, found this to be in the "too horrible to contemplate" catagory or were complacent. Local management chain finally woke up and then turned to manic but ultimately futile attempts at justification of their own existence, making life very difficult for all in the process. That is when he decided to bail.

5. Whole area is a bit stuffed because the vanishing "Pfizer Effect". Not so long ago local government and Regional Devopment Agencies (as were) placed further development of the Pfizer complex as one of key drivers of core strategy for the area in terms of attracting business, job generation, road improvements, transport, specialist education/training facilties and housing.

Welcome to the joys of global economy.