Dive Brief:
- Pfizer is closing the Neucentis research location, which is based near Cambridge in the U.K. As a result of this closure, 120 jobs will be lost.
- This move comes four years after Pfizer closed a large R&D campus in Sandwich, also in the U.K. As a result of this move, 2,400 jobs were lost.
- Despite these closures, there will still be 2,500 Pfizer employees in the U.K.
Dive Insight:
During its quest to acquire AstraZeneca last year, Pfizer was called out for what many perceived as a lack of commitment to U.K. science. And now the game's changed entirely after Pfizer and Allergan agreed to a $160 billion megamerger last month.
The inversion deal promises to bring down Pfizer's corporate tax rate, but it also involves about $2 billion in cost-cutting, with one-third of the cuts coming from R&D.