Generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. plans to lay off 156 workers at its Irvine plant this week as a result of an earlier year-long halt to production.
The company, which is based in Israel, laid off 200 workers in Irvine late last year, and 70 workers several months before that, as it addressed concerns about quality control at its facility.
Teva now employs about 350 people here, according to recent Business Journal estimates.
The company likely remains the second-largest drug maker in Orange County based on local employment, behind Irvine-based Allergan Inc., the leader by far with more than 2,000 workers here.
Teva got its Irvine facility through its 2003 purchase of generic drug maker Sicor Inc. for $3.4 billion.
The recent round of layoffs began when it stopped producing propofol, a sedative that gained notoriety in the death of Michael Jackson.
Teva, whose version of propofol wasn’t involved in the Jackson case, eventually stopped making that drug because it was hard to make and it gained little or no profit from it.
The drug maker had other issues with propofol, including a 2009 production stoppage and recall after high levels of toxins were found in vials of the drug made in Irvine.
At the end of 2009, Teva’s Irvine site received a Food and Drug Administration warning letter that detailed “significant” manufacturing violations there.
The company has said that fixing the problems took longer than expected.
Teva resumed production of other drugs in April at its Irvine plant.
The company called the return to production “a significant step for improving its product availability for the U.S. injectable market.”
The effects of the voluntary manufacturing and distribution halt took a toll on sales that apparently led to the latest layoffs.
Problems at the Irvine plant cut Teva’s 2010 sales by $230 million, the drug maker said in February.
Overall, Teva reported full-year sales of $16.1 billion, up 16% from a year earlier (see related story, page 6).
