founded 1952 headquarters tadworth surrey united kingdom products pharmaceuticals number of employees 2 500 parent pfizer website www.pfizer.co.uk pfizer uk officially pfizer ltd is the principal subsidiary of the multinational pharmaceutical company pfizer in the united kingdom . 1 pfizer uk has its business headquarters in tadworth surrey major offices in maidenhead berkshire research and development facilities in cambridge cambridgeshire and sandwich kent and a manufacturing and distribution site in havant hampshire . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 1952 2000 1.2 2000 2010 1.3 2010 present 2 operations 2.1 discovery park sandwich 2.2 neusentis cambridge 3 awards 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit 1952 2000 edit to satisfy regulations then in place in the united kingdom on the importation of medicines pfizer established a compounding operation in folkestone kent in the autumn of 1952 . 3 pfizer acquired an 80 acre site on the outskirts of sandwich in 1954 to enable the expansion of its kent based activities . 3 in 1955 pfizer established an animal feed plant at the sandwich site and entered the uk non prescription market for the first time . 4 an agricultural division was opened at the sandwich site in 1957 and in 1964 pfizer acquired land adjacent to its existing site in sandwich known as the west site . 4 pfizer uk established pfizer central research in 1971 with the mission to discover new pharmaceutical chemical and agricultural products for pfizer s worldwide operations . 5 pfizer uk was presented with the queen s award for technological achievement in 1979 in recognition of the outstanding contribution made to tropical medicine by the medicine mansil oxamniquine which had been developed at the sandwich site . 5 feldene piroxicam a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug developed jointly by the sandwich site and pfizer s r & d facility in groton united states was launched in 1980 . 5 in 1984 a third phase of buildings was completed at the sandwich site . 5 the oral antifungal drug diflucan fluconazole which had been discovered at the sandwich site was launched in 1988 . 5 in december 1997 pfizer announced an investment of 109 million in a new research facility at the sandwich site creating 1 000 jobs . 6 2000 2010 edit in april 2001 pfizer uk received the queen s award for enterprise for the discovery and development of the erectile dysfunction drug viagra sildenafil . 7 in 2002 pfizer uk relocated its headquarters and sales and marketing functions to new offices at walton oaks near tadworth surrey . 7 in june 2003 pfizer uk began offering employees at the sandwich site the option of leaving work at noon on fridays if their work was completed . 8 in september 2007 it was announced that pfizer uk would close its manufacturing plant at sandwich with the loss of around 400 jobs . 9 dr ken richardson was inducted into the us national inventors hall of fame in may 2008 for his role in the discovery of diflucan whilst working at pfizer uk . 10 construction of an 87 million link road between the sandwich site and the a299 was approved by hm government in august 2009 . 11 2010 present edit on 1 february 2011 pfizer announced it would be closing the entire research and development facility at sandwich within 18 24 months as part of a company wide plan to exit certain therapeutic areas including allergy and respiratory research which was based at sandwich . 12 13 14 in its announcement pfizer stated that most of the 2 400 workers at the site would be made redundant although it hoped to transfer several hundred positions to other sites or to pfizer partner companies . 15 on 4 february 2011 it was announced that the science and technology select committee would be requesting oral evidence from representatives of pfizer and the minister of state for universities and science david willetts on the closure of the sandwich site . 16 in april 2011 pfizer established neusentis in cambridge intended to operate as a biotech like unit combining research in pain sensory disorders and regenerative medicine . 17 neusentis acquired biopharmaceutical company icagen in november 2011 . 17 in june 2011 pfizer renamed the sandwich site discovery park and put it on the market for sale . 18 in the same month pfizer announced it would retain 350 jobs at discovery park 19 subsequently increased to 650 in november 2011 . 20 in august 2011 it was announced that the pfizer site at sandwich would become an enterprise zone with discounted business rates easier planning rules and access to superfast broadband . 21 pfizer sold the freehold to the discovery park site to discovery park ltd a private consortium in august 2012 . 22 as part of the sale pfizer agreed to take a lease of around 250 000 sq ft of offices and laboratories at the site . 22 operations edit discovery park sandwich edit around 650 pfizer employees are based at discovery park in sandwich . 20 pfizer operations at discovery park are focused on the delivery of the company s mid to late stage portfolio . 17 activities at the site include pharmaceutical sciences ; medical regulatory ; business units ; quality assurance ; and business support functions procurement & operation hr finance patents . 17 there is also a pilot plant production and solid and liquid dose manufacturing facility at the site . 17 neusentis cambridge edit neusentis was a biotech like unit based in cambridge which was focused on research in pain sensory disorders regenerative medicine and auditory and visual disorders linked to ion channels . 17 neusentis was responsible for pfizer s first stem cell clinical study initiated in 2011 for patients with ulcerative colitis . 17 pfizer announced in december 2015 that it had decided to close the neusentis unit with the loss of around 120 jobs . 23 awards edit in 1991 pfizer uk was presented with the queen s award for technological achievement in recognition of its discovery of diflucan . 7 in 1993 pfizer uk was awarded the queen s award for export achievement . 7 in 1997 and 2000 pfizer uk was awarded the queen s award for international trade . 7 see also edit list of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the united kingdom references edit pfizer uk . the times . 24 may 2009 . retrieved 25 november 2010 . corporate overview . pfizer . retrieved 12 august 2012 . a b pfizer s history 1949 55 . pfizer uk . retrieved 25 november 2010 . a b pfizer s history 1955 70 . pfizer uk . retrieved 25 november 2010 . a b c d e pfizer s history 1970 90 . pfizer uk . retrieved 25 november 2010 . pfizer creates 1 000 jobs but siemens thinks again in tyneside . the independent . 12 december 1997 . retrieved 14 august 2012 . a b c d e pfizer s history 1990 2008 . pfizer uk . retrieved 25 november 2010 . early finish for friday workers . bbc news . 26 may 2003 . retrieved 25 november 2010 . pfizer to shed more than 400 jobs . bbc news . 11 september 2007 . retrieved 14 august 2012 . scientist joins us hall of fame . bbc news . 13 may 2008 . retrieved 25 november 2010 . traffic busting 87m link road gets green light . kent online . 25 august 2009 . retrieved 25 november 2010 . pfizer to close u.k. center . the wall street journal . 1 february 2011 . retrieved 1 february 2011 . drug giant pfizer to pull out of kent . kent online . 1 february 2011 . retrieved 1 february 2011 . pfizer to shut major sandwich site home of viagra . reuters . 1 february 2011 . retrieved 1 february 2011 . pfizer to close uk research site . bbc news . 1 february 2011 . retrieved 1 february 2011 . mps to grill pfizer on closure of sandwich site . reuters . 4 february 2011 . retrieved 4 february 2011 . a b c d e f g r & d locations england uk . pfizer . retrieved 12 august 2012 . pfizer site in sandwich on market as discovery park . bbc news . 13 june 2011 . retrieved 12 august 2012 . pfizer to retain 350 staff at sandwich . bbc news . 23 june 2011 . retrieved 12 august 2012 . a b pfizer site in sandwich set to retain 650 jobs . bbc news . 4 november 2011 . retrieved 12 august 2012 . kent business zone brings resilience as pfizer shuts . bbc news . 17 august 2011 . retrieved 12 august 2012 . a b sandwich pfizer site sold to private consortium . bbc news . 2 august 2012 . retrieved 12 august 2012 . pfizer is shuttering another u.k. r & d outpost ditching 120 jobs . fierce biotech . 3 december 2015 . retrieved 31 july 2016 . external links edit pfizer uk discovery park v t e pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the united kingdom manufacturing in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom companies current aah pharmaceuticals alliance boots astex astrazeneca medimmune btg cyclacel dechra pharmaceuticals ge healthcare genus glaxosmithkline hikma pharmaceuticals indivior macfarlan smith norbrook group oxford biomedica pfizer uk phytopharm proximagen shire silence therapeutics tbs gb unipath vectura group vernalis viiv healthcare defunct allen & hanburys amersham beecham group cambridge antibody technology celltech chiroscience distillers company fisons glaxo wellcome ici reliant pharmaceuticals renovo zeneca government and regulatory bodies commission on human medicines department of health european directorate for the quality of medicines european medicines agency medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency national collaborating centre for mental health national patient safety agency pharmaceutical price regulation scheme pharmaceutical society of northern ireland general pharmaceutical council scottish medicines consortium veterinary medicines directorate industry and professional bodies association of the british pharmaceutical industry chemical industries association european federation of biotechnology european federation of pharmaceutical industries and associations faculty of pharmaceutical medicine pharmacists defence association royal pharmaceutical society of great britain worshipful society of apothecaries books and journals bandolier bad pharma british national formulary british national formulary for children monthly index of medical specialities the pharmaceutical journal other british approved name british pharmacopoeia drugscope european and developing countries clinical trials partnership european pharmacopoeia list of world s largest pharmaceutical companies pharmaceutical services negotiating committee wellcome trust category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pfizer uk & oldid 732355719 categories surreypfizerpharmaceutical companies of the united kingdomreigate and bansteadscience and technology in surreyhidden categories engvarb from september 2013use dmy dates from september 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page 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