Drug firm Roche closes US site

Swiss drug giant Roche said on Tuesday it will close a site in the US state of New Jersey with the loss of 1,000 jobs as it streamlines its research and development activities. "Roche's site in Nutley, NJ in the United States will be closed and research and development activities will be consolidated at the existing sites in Germany and Switzerland, focusing on oncology, virology, metabolism and neuroscience," said the company in a statement. The Basel-based group employs 20,800 people in the US and said it would continue to "strongly invest" in research and development there through its Genentech organisation based in San Francisco. Roche said it was transfering its Nutley activities to its Swiss locations in Basel and Schlieren, and to Penzberg in Germany. "In its 80-year old history, our Nutley site has made significant contributions to Roche's success," said Roche chief executive Severin Schwan. "We will do everything we can to find socially responsible solutions for the employees affected by these changes." The company said the reorganisation would enable it to keep research and development costs "stable" despite a strong increase in the number of clinical development projects in the last 18 months.