The factories employ nearly 6 per cent of Pfizer's global workforce.US drugmaker Pfizer said on Wednesday it was shutting down two manufacturing plants in country that make generic injectables like penicillin as a response to falling demand.TheIndianSubcontinent reported news on Tuesday, saying over 1,700 employees would be impacted by closure of two factories in states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.The factories employ nearly 6 per cent of Pfizer's global workforce."Pfizer has conducted a thorough evaluation of sites in India and concluded that due to very significant long term loss of product demand, manufacturing at these sites is not viable," company said in an emailed statement.Pfizer acquired sites as part of its $15 billion purchase of Hospira in 2015, to boost its portfolio of generic injectable drugs and copies of biotech medicines.The plant in Chennai makes generic injectable cephalosporin, penems and penicillin.
The Maharashtra plant supplied Chennai unit with certain products.Both plants do not manufacture products for India market, Pfizer said, adding that it is expanding operations in its Visakhapatnam facility.