Pfizer's Ownership
After the lease agreement, and later the sale of the plant, was finalized the company transferred John E. McKeen to the Vigo site in 1948 in preparation for the production of streptomycin. The main objective of Pfizer's Vigo operation in the years after the war was the production of veterinary antibiotics. The large fermenters were used during the period after the war to produce penicillin but afterwards sat dormant for decades. Of the areas at Vigo not utilized by Pfizer, most were left undisturbed. Adjacent to the old BW buildings the company constructed their own facilities for drug manufacturing.
After operating the Vigo plant since 1948 Pfizer announced in October 2007 that 600 of the plant's 750 employees would be placed on paid leave. The announcement followed disappointing sales for the plant's flagship product, an inhaled insulin known as Exubera. Beginning in 1999, Pfizer had invested $300 million in the plant and hired 400 additional employees, Pfizer's Vigo location was declared the sole producer of Exubera. In January 2008 those employees on paid leave were permanently eliminated. The company announced in May 2008 the remaining 140 jobs, occupied making antibiotics Cefobid and Unasyn, at the plant would be eliminated and the plant closed. In November 2008 the company announced the site and its buildings were for sale.
Read more about this topic: Vigo Ordnance Plant
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