Last November, the Nutley campus of Swiss biotech company Roche Pharmaceutical was shrinking in both workforce and — it seemed likely at the time — footprint. The company laid off or transferred nearly 1,000 people, mostly in product development, and stated that they would need to reassess their NJ real estate holdings.
Now, almost a year later, with around 2,000 employees remaining on the Nutley campus, they’ve opened the Roche Center of Excellence — a new 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in that very location. The company announced on Friday that the state-of-the-art facility would be used to produce products for preclinical drug trials around the world.
“This is a vitally important milestone for the Nutley site, as well as pharmaceutical research and early development at Roche,” said Waseem Malick, vice president for pharmaceutical and analytical R&D, in a press release. “It enables continued support of our portfolio, and is another example of Roche’s commitment to Nutley as a major research center for Roche.”
In an email, Director of Public Affairs Darien E. Wilson told Baristanet that the new facility opened in part of the former manufacturing space, and that it would not result in any new jobs.
“It will be staffed by current employees in Pharmaceutical and Analytical R&D; however, it is the only facility of its kind throughout the Roche Group, so it is of strategic importance for the company to be able to produce compounds for clinical testing,” she said.
Photo credit to Roche.
A very encouraging story, thanks for sharing. Hopefully, Roce will stay in our area for many years to come.