Money is the reason behind Boehringer Ingelheim shutting down its Ben Venue labs in Bedford, OH. The company announced Monday that it would have to put far too much money into the site to bring it up to manufacturing code. The changes would cost the company around $700 million in operating losses in addition to requiring investment that goes beyond the $350 million it has already put towards getting the site in functional condition. The site’s problems are noteworthy, with the Cleveland Plain Dealer counting around 40 recalls for drugs manufactured at the plant between 2002 and January 2013, and the FDA finding “a reasonable probability that use of the recalled drugs would cause ‘serious adverse health consequences or death,’” in nine of those cases.
The plant’s manufacturing issues included storage of urine at the site as well as glass and metal contaminants. The company will being laying off the almost 1,100 workers employed at the labs between now and 2014, affecting its ability to make BI’s products as well as J&J’s cancer medication Doxil among others.
