Job losses likely as Hopewell, New Jersey site will close by 2020

Pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMC) has announced a massive overhaul of its R&D presence in the US, with plans to close some facilities while expanding elsewhere over the next few years. The changes are likely to affect many jobs, although the company has not outlined how many members of staff will be laid off or asked to relocate.

BMC says it will close its Hopewell, New Jersey site – which currently employs 1200 people – by 2020, and close its Lake Union Steam Plant in Seattle in 2019, in addition to the already announced closure of its Wallingford, Connecticut site by 2018. Meanwhile it will begin construction of a new R&D building at the company’s Lawrenceville, New Jersey campus to house discovery and translational medicine activities, as well as expanding its campuses in Brunswick, New Jersey and Devens, Massachusetts to create capacity for biologic drugs.