AstraZeneca Pharma India will close its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) unit at Yelahanka, Bengaluru due to low demand of the product Terbutaline Sulphate (TBS) in the export market. TBS is used for the prevention and reversal of bronchospasm in patients.  

The Board of Directors of the company at its meeting on December 2, 2015 had decided to close the unit, AstraZeneca Pharma India said in a filing to BSE. However, no other details are available as company officials in Bengaluru were not available for comments.

The company did not disclose what it intended to do with the employees working at the respective unit. “The Board took the decision as TBS was the last API to be manufactured at the API unit and no other API manufacturing activity is planned to be carried out at this unit in the future,” it added.

The decision was taken following an application to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to withdraw the manufacturing licence for TBS, AstraZeneca Pharma India said.

The product was manufactured primarily for export and the company applied to withdraw the licence following low demand in the export markets.

The company’s tablet manufacturing plant that started commercial operations in 2013 will continue to operate at the above mentioned location, AstraZeneca said.

In January last year, research and development unit Avishkar in Bengaluru India, had made more than over 150 scientists jobs redundant. The move was part of large restructuring exercise to move away from its early stage research on tropical diseases tuberculosis and malaria. The company had indicated it would shift its ongoing research work to its Macclesfield site in UK. In August 2014, this facility spanning 2 lakh sq. ft. was purchased by Cognizant Technology Solutions.