Pfizer invests in U.S., eases up in Ireland

Pfizer is set to invest more than $200 million to build R&D and process development facilities in St. Louis County, Mo. The planned facilities will be used to advance biotherapeutics including vaccines, immuno-oncology therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and biosimilars. Pfizer expects construction to begin in 2017. Meanwhile, Pfizer says it will ease back on expansion plans in Clondalkin, Ireland, following the phase III clinical trial failure of its cholesterol-lowering drug candidate bococizumab, a proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type-9 inhibitor. The trial found an unanticipated reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Pfizer had applied for planning permission to build a 34,000 m2 facility to manufacture the drug. Some media reports state the investment would have been about $425 million. Pfizer would not comment on costs but says some expansion will still take place at the site to accommodate other products.