The global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has opened its new development centre for veterinary vaccines in Louvain-la-Neuve. This site is "the" European vaccine production centre for the Group.

It will house the following functions: formulation, filling, freeze-drying, packaging and dispatch of veterinary vaccines for pets and productive livestock.
It will employ 220 people to carry out these tasks and is included in the Marshall Plan of the Wallonia Region.

The choice of a location in Wallonia for an estimated annual production of 120 million doses of 400 finished products to be distributed throughout the countries of the European Community, the United States, Brazil and "in a growing number of new markets" is partly explained by the proximity of Zaventem, where Pfizer has set up its distribution platform for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, but also by the fact that Belgian universities are at the forefront of biotechnology.

The Pfizer Group currently employs 3000 people in Belgium, in other words 3% of its global workforce. The turnover of the Belgian subsidiary, which produces both medicines for humans and veterinary products, currently represents 0.7% of the Group's total turnover. According to current estimates, the Group's veterinary vaccine activities should generate a turnover of $150 million.

http://www.pfizer.be

L'ECHO - 16/04/2008