Pfizer abandons $350m+ Seattle plant post-Seagen acquisition

In 2022, Seagen began construction on a greenfield biomanufacturing site close to its headquarters in Bothell, Washington to support its biologics and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline.

Despite allegedly sinking $350 to $400 million into the project (nicknamed project ‘Launchpad’ by the team), the site has been put on the chopping block by Seagen’s new owners, Pfizer.

“As part of Pfizer’s acquisition of Seagen [in December 2023], we acquired Seagen’s manufacturing facility in Everett, Washington that is under construction,” a Pfizer spokesperson told this publication.

“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.”

Approximately 120 employees who have been working on the initial set up of the site will be impacted by the decision, we were told. “We will make every effort to place impacted colleagues within open roles at the Bothell site and all impacted employees can apply to relevant open roles within Pfizer.”

The products intended to be manufactured at the site will now be manufactured mainly at Pfizer’s Sanford site located in North Carolina, the spokesperson confirmed. Pfizer’s 230-acre site in Sanford offers biologics, vaccine, and gene therapy drug substance capabilities and has seen numerous investments over the years, including a $500 million expansion in 2019. Further investments in capacity are in the pipeline, it was confirmed.

The closure comes months after plans were announced to realign other sites in Pfizer’s network. The Peapack, New Jersey plant was earmarked for closure last October with almost 800 jobs affected, while facilities in Morrisville and Durham, North Carolina, are also rumored to be shuttered. Such decisions have formed part of a $3.5 billion cost-saving plan implemented by Pfizer in October 2023.

As to what will happen to the Everett plant, the spokesperson confirmed several options are open to Pfizer including a sale. However, “to-date our focus has been on getting to a decision and then announcing the decision to give certainty to our colleagues. With this announcement, we will progress the disposition process.”