Evotec to cut 120 jobs in Thane, India as it realigns its discovery chemistry operations

Published: 8-Jul-2013

All chemistry efforts carried out in India will be transferred to Abingdon, UK by the end of September


Evotec is to close its chemistry operations in Thane, India over the next three months and in future, all chemistry efforts will be performed at its Abingdon, UK facility.

The move will mean the loss of 120 jobs and Evotec will take a one-time impairment charge of up to €4m in the third quarter of 2013.

The German drug discovery firm said the closure would enable it to meet ‘an increasing requirement to operate closer to the principal R&D laboratories of our major customers’.

All project work in Thane will be finished at the end of September and Evotec (India) Private, which carried out custom synthesis, process R&D, scale-up and analytical services, will be wound down from then.

Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, said the firm was due to relocate its Indian chemistry operations in June 2014.

Through this realignment we will be able to efficiently serve our customers, use our UK chemistry resources and realise some cost savings

‘During the due diligence in finding a new facility and because of growing customer requirements for European-based activities we came to the conclusion to exit our operations in India completely,’ he said.

‘Through this realignment we will be able to most efficiently serve our customers, utilise our UK chemistry resources and capabilities and also realise some cost savings.

‘Unfortunately the impact is that we must say goodbye to a first-class workforce in Thane that has so ably supported our customers over the last four years.’

In a separate announcement, Evotec said its research alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim, initiated in 2004 to jointly identify and develop pre-clinical development candidates for the treatment of various disease areas including CNS, inflammation, cardiometabolic and respiratory diseases, reached its 18th milestone in June triggering a payment of €1.5m to Evotec. The milestone was for the transition of a pain molecule into pre-clinical development.

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