Astellas To Shut Down Three R&D Sites

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas is shuttering three R&D sites in the U.S. and Japan as part of a broad overhaul of its research network. Two of the sites will be closed this year. Both came into its fold through acquisitions: the Farmingdale, N.Y., research facility of Astellas subsidiary OSI Pharmaceuticals, bought in 2010, and the Redwood City, Calif., labs of Perseid Therapeutics, purchased in 2011. In 2015, the doors will close on Astellas’ Kashima research facility in Osaka, and in-house fermentation research will end. Astellas says some functions from the three shuttered sites will be transferred to its R&D facility in Tsukuba.