59 Will Lose Jobs When Pharmaceutical Company Leaves Andover

ANDOVER, MA -- Eisai Inc. will lay off 59 employees and move its headquarters and the 70 remaining employees to Cambridge from Andover early next year. The pharmaceutical company, which is developing drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, will move to a new, 50,000-square-foot facility. In a press release, the company said the new site will allow it to form and maintain partnerships by tapping into Cambridge's dense consolidation of biotech companies.

The announcement is only the latest setback for Andover's efforts to attract and retain biotech companies. Eisai has been scaling back its Andover presence for the past five years, going from a high of 240 workers to its current 129 workers.

In January, Philips Healthcare announced plans to move 1,900 jobs in Andover to Nashville and Cambridge while maintaining a significantly smaller, local workforce of 300. Also in January, Pfizer said it expects to cut about 100 jobs as it scales back its operations in Andover.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).