Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) is planning to lay off all employees at two of its vaccine manufacturing facilities in India following an ongoing review after it failed to get a UNICEF contract, Reuters reported.
About 800 jobs could be affected and the company is offering voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to all employees at the two facilities near Hyderabad, in the Indian state of Telangana, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.
The two sites make vaccines for protection versus hepatitis B, diphtheria and tetanus. The facilities and also have packaging sites for insulin, however demand for its products have been impacted by the pandemic as other companies in India and worldwide increased capacity, according to the report.
The French drugmaker does not intend to sell any assets currently but the possibility could not be ruled out for future, the agency noted citing a company spokesperson.
The company intends to transfer insulin packaging and injectible products to another facility and reviewing which facility could support it.
Sanofi has ownership of the sites via Sanofi Healthcare India, which was previously known as Shantha Biotechnics. Sanofi had acquired Shantha in separate tranches between 2009 and 2013, with an initial 80% stake worth INR37.7B.
The sites, though, did not succeed in get a UNICEF contract to provide the vaccine Shan-5, for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and influenza type B, the report added.
Over a decade ago, the WHO and UN had shown concern regarding quality issues related to the vaccine which saw the shot come under scrutiny, the report noted.