Roche Closes U.S. Site, Slashing 1,000 Jobs

Swiss drug company Roche (IW 1000/72) said on June 26 that it will close a site in New Jersey with the loss of 1,000 jobs as it streamlines its research and development activities.

"Roche's site in Nutley, NJ will be closed and research and development activities will be consolidated at the existing sites in Germany and Switzerland, focusing on oncology, virology, metabolism and neuroscience,"  the company said.

The Basel-based group employs 20,800 people in the U.S. and said it would continue to "strongly invest" in research and development there through its Genentech organization based in San Francisco.

Roche said it was transferring its Nutley activities to its Swiss locations in Basel and Schlieren, and to Penzberg in Germany.

"In its 80-year old history, our Nutley site has made significant contributions to Roche's success," said Roche chief executive Severin Schwan. "We will do everything we can to find socially responsible solutions for the employees affected by these changes."

The company said the reorganization would enable it to keep research and development costs "stable" despite a strong increase in the number of clinical development projects in the last 18 months.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012