Local pharmaceutical plant to close

BUFFALO, NY (Release) - Contract Pharmaceuticals Limited, a manufacturer of liquids, creams and ointments for name-brand and generic drug companies, announced today that it will close its Buffalo plant at the end of 2011 and consolidate operations into its Mississauga, Ontario facility. The Buffalo plant employs 260 people.

CPL purchased the former Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceutical complex at 100 Forest Ave. in 2005 from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. At the time, CPL hired the existing 200 employees and then added 60 new jobs over the following five years and invested more than $4.5 million in the site.

In the intervening period, the global economic downturn led many drug companies to slow their drug development while at the same time pharmaceutical companies elected to manufacture more products in-house to fill their own plants. As a result, capacity utilization at the site has remained low.

“This was a very difficult decision to make,” said Ken Paige, CPL’s CEO. “When we acquired the facility, we believed that we could attract significant new business to fill much of the excess capacity. But given the current slower growth in the pharmaceutical outsourcing market, we never got to the production levels we needed for long-term economic success.

“Our concern now is first, to make sure that we’re giving our employees ample notice and supporting them to find new work; and, second, to ensure that our customers continue to be provided with the excellent quality and service they’ve come to expect from our Buffalo operations.”

CPL will offer displaced employees severance packages and outplacement programs. Discussions will also commence within the Western New York health-care and manufacturing communities to assist CPL staff in finding new jobs. Employment will be reduced in phases from now until the end of 2011 as contracts expire and certain products are moved to its Ontario manufacturing facility.