Pfizer manufacturing plant in question after torcetrapib blow

sometimes even the best of planning can be "overtaken by events"...

how often are facility designs completed and then either scrapped or re-done for some other use?...more than most companies would like to admit, even if it's not very often...

05/12/2006 - A hefty investment by Pfizer in an Irish manufacturing facility could prove to be a waste after the potential blockbuster it was designed to make has been canned.

Pfizer announced that it will stop the development of its cholesterol drug torcetrapib after clinical trial results showed an increased risk of death in patients.
Since 2003 Pfizer has been undertaking a $90m (€68m) investment and expansion at an existing Irish manufacturing site in Loughbeg, Cork, so that it could make the new drug, a combination of torcetrapib – a cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor – and Pfizer's current blockbuster Lipitor (atorvastatin).

The company was touting the combination as a “major new cardiovascular treatment” and finished construction of the new extension in the middle of 2005, which included the design and installation of a fluid bed drier and granulation system over three floors, along with solids handling and management systems, specifically for the production of the new drug.

link to full article