After news emerged regarding Pfizer’s plans to close sites in North Carolina, the company is adding New Jersey to the list. The company expects its Peapack facility to cease operations in early 2024. 

A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification(WARN) Notice notes that 791 workers could potentially be cut from its Somerset County corporate office. The company hasn’t released an official tally, and notes that the “vast majority” of workers at the New Jersey site to be re-assigned to the company’s New York headquarters with another portion transitioning to the company’s site in Parsippany. 

Peapack closure part of Pfizer’s $3.5 billion cost-savings plan

To respond to weak demand for its COVID-19 therapies, Pfizer has announced a $3.5 billion cost-cutting drive, aiming to save at least that figure by the end of 2024. It will incur a one-time cost of $3 billion in the process.

The 595,000 Peapack site is situated on 130-acres in the Borough of Peapack and Gladstone in Somerset County, NJ. It comprises 10 buildings linked by covered canopies and a subterranean tunnel system. 

First built in 1979, Pharmacia & Upjohn acquired the property in 1998, which served as its corporate headquarters. Pfizer acquired it in 2003 following its acquisition of Pharmacia. 

Fueled in part by an influx of cash from its COVID-19 therapies, Pfizer went on a spending spree from May, 2019, to March, 2023. It acquired Therachon, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, ResApp Health, Global Blood Therapeutics, and ICAgen. Its biggest recent acquisition, however, was its $43 billion proposed acquisition of Seagen, which European authorities recently approved.