Eli Lilly to close manufacturing plant

Eli Lilly is to close its manufacturing plant in Basingstoke and is currently seeking buyers for the operation.

Workers were told of plans to close the plant in June, with employees consulted on the proposals in the intervening months. The board of directors has decided that the pharmaceutical company will close the plant unless another firm agrees to take over, reports the Basingstoke Gazette.

Around 430 workers are expected to be affected by the closure, with 40 to 60 of these given jobs in other Eli Lilly sites across the country. About a 100 will be eligible for retirement as well.

Maria Miller, MP for Basingstoke, said that it was “concerning to hear that a final decision has been made” over the plant’s closure, but that she “is sure that Eli Lilly will do all it can to support both the employees who will lose their jobs and the contract workers there”.

Operations at the Basingstoke plant will be ceased in summer next year unless a new buyer is found for the plant, though headquarters will remain in the area.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly has announced that it has launched phase III of a clinical trial entitled Global Analysis of Pemetrexed in Small Cell Lung Cancer Extensive Stage (GALES).

GALES will evaluate pemetrexed, a novel antifolate, for injection in small cell lung cancer and will enrol 1,820 patients. Eli Lilly states that Nick Thatcher, of Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester will be the study’s principal investigator.