Glaxo SmithKline to close plant.(PUERTO RICO)

0 Comments | Caribbean Update, December, 2007

Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it will close its plant in Cidra, opened in 196, due to declining sales of drugs including the diabetes treatment Avandia, reports AP (Oct. 24, 2007). The company will transfer production of Avandia and the related drug Avandamet to other facilities and reduce its work force in Cidra from 900 to about 250 by the end of this year, said Stef Mendell, a Raleigh, N.C.-based spokeswoman for the London-based company.

Avandia sales were hurt by a New England Journal of Medicine article in May that said it raised the risk of heart attack by 43%. The FDA ruled in July that Avandia could remain on the market.