Pfizer to downsize Japanese operations

The world's number one drugmaker, Pfizer, is reportedly planning to scale back operations at the Tsukuba, Japan, facility which it acquired from Pharmacia when it completed its mega-merger with the latter company earlier this year (Marketletters passim).

Pfizer/Pharmacia is in the process of consolidating Japanese operations and the company now plans to shrink the range of products handled at the factory and outsource the manufacturing of some items to other Japanese drugmakers, reports The Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The facility in question currently inspects and packages 33 different pharmaceutical products but many of these will be moved to Pfizer's Nagoya plant, which is set to become the new Japanese production base for the Pfizer/Pharmacia entity.