Pfizer stops buildout of $350M Seagen plant, leaving 120 workers' roles in question

• Update Apr 3, 24: Pfizer will layoff 119 employees in Everett, WA on June 3, 2024 as indicated in a WARN notice.

When Pfizer completed its $43 billion buyout of Seagen in December, CEO Albert Bourla said that the New York pharma giant was not just gaining the Seattle biotech’s “golden eggs,” but instead was “acquiring the goose that laid the golden eggs.”

 

Less than three months later, it’s clear that the goose did not include Seagen’s ambitious manufacturing facility under construction, 13 miles north of its current headquarters.

Pfizer has confirmed a report over the weekend from the Puget Sound Business Journal that it is shutting down construction of the $350 million, 270,000-square-foot facility in a business park in Everett, WA.

Seagen had embarked on the manufacturing project to reduce its reliance on contract manufacturers for supplies of its commercial and clinical products in its deep oncology pipeline.

“Pfizer regularly evaluates our manufacturing network to ensure capacity is effectively utilized based on projected product demands. After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to wind down construction of the site,” Pfizer said in a statement.

Seagen’s 120 employees who were working on the initial setup of the new site “will be impacted,” Pfizer said. The company will “make every effort” to place them in open roles at Seagen’s headquarters in Bothell, according to a spokesperson.