Pfizer has announced that it is to close its UK research centre at Sandwich in Kent with the loss of 2400 jobs. Reuters

I grew up in thanet, and worked at pfizers the place will be like a ghost town now, the only remaining big employer in the area gone. They spent hundreds of millions on that site recently only to mothball it and now close it, so its not like you couldn't see this coming.

My oldest friend lives in Sandwich and the whole area is geared around Pfizers. The roads were changed with new roundabouts etc.
I wonder what will happen to the buildings and site now - it is HUGE

the local kids will vandalise it

On a serious note there are some very nasty things indeed on that site, clearing it is going to cost a fortune

The job losses are equivalent to around 35% of the population of Sandwich, though not everyone working there lives in Sandwich itself. There will be many related jobs in the area lost as a result of this.

i wonder where the jobs will really be going...

with all the v14gra spam i get, it shouldn't really be hard getting a few puns up...

I suppose it has to be done:

There will be stiff competition for jobs in the area

It is a bit hard-on the staff.

I wondered how long it would take before the blue (pill) jokes began

Difficult decision by hardened managers

On a more serious note there have been a number of reports that bureaucracy and complexity of regulations are making health research slow & expensive in UK. Another case of the UK taking European rules more seriously than the rest of the EU.

Apparently the number of UK patients taking part in clinical trials has fallen by two thirds over the last 10 years.

Doing clinical research is UK is very tedious and expensive. The approval process can take 6 months or more....
After GSK shut down most of it's London Hammersmith facility, the move from Pfizer was not surprising...considering that they just acquired Wyeth.

They are reducing staff by 1100 in Connecticut as well.

Sad day for Sandwich, I used to help organise/run the 'Classic Sandwich' Car Show there. Lovely village. It's going to be hard for them, in hard times too.

Its been another miserable year for our industry, and I don't hold out much hope for an improvement what little growth that exists seems to be at the bottom of the value chain i.e. generics and biosimilars.