Roche To Close Former U.S. HQ

Roche announced that it will close down its Nutley, NJ site by the end of 2013. The move will lead to 1,000 layoffs. The company also plans to open a Translational Clinical Research Center, but has not determined the location. The new center will employ approximately 240 people. R&D activities from Nutley will be consolidated at sites in Switzerland and Germany.

In addition to these moves, Roche’s head of research and early development, Jean-Jacque Garaud, will leave the company after this week. Mike Burgess will become acting head of that group. Mr. Burgess currently serves as global head of oncology and large molecule research.

The Nutley site served as Roche’s U.S. headquarters for 80 years, until the company acquired Genentech three years ago and shifted its HQ to South San Francisco. In October 2011, Roche opened a 17,000-sq.-ft. high-potency clinical trials manufacturing facility at Nutley. At the ribbon-cutting in October 2011, Waseem Malick, Roche’s vice president for pharmaceutical and analytical R&D, said, “This is a vitally important milestone for the Nutley site, as well as pharmaceutical research and early development at Roche.” A Roche spokesperson confirmed to Contract Pharma that this new facility will be shut down as part of the action.

Roche didn’t reveal the amount of savings it hopes to generate through this shutdown, but justified the action by noting the volume of late-stage projects in its pipeline. Chief executive officer Severin Schwan said, “Our R&D programs were exceptionally successful over the last 18 months, with 24 out of 28 late-stage clinical trials delivering positive results. The overall number of programs in clinical development has grown substantially. The planned consolidation of our research and early development organization and the refocusing of R&D activities in Switzerland and Germany will free up resources that we can invest in these promising clinical programs while also increasing our overall efficiency.”

In May 2012, Roche cancelled development of dalcetrapib, an HDL-raising compound that Mr. Garaud once projected could reach $10 billion in annual sales.

Roche will be involved in environmental remediation efforts at the site for several years after the shutdown is complete.