Israeli pharmaceutical firm Teva has announced that it plans to cease operations at a manufacturing plant in Gödöll? in Budapest, Hungary, leaving 500 staff facing the axe.

The company has noted that it plans to either sell or close down the facility by the end of 2018. It had been used as the manufacturing site of over 200 sterile injectable products.

Jayson Otke, Associate Director of Corporate Communications at the company, explained that the decision is "part of the company’s global network operations strategy, which is intended to better align production capacity with market and patient demand globally.

"Teva remains fully committed to operating in Hungary. The Teva plants at Debrecen and Sajóbábony, as well as Teva’s commercial organisation – with more than 2,000 employees – are not included in this plan. Teva will also continue its ongoing investment in its local production and R&D activities in Debrecen," he added.

The decision may not come as a surprise to some, as it has been a troubling past few years for the plant. In January last year, the FDA warned Teva that the facility did not meet current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) following a scheduled inspection. In May, the regulator slapped the facility with an import alert, and finally issued a formal warning letter in October, following failures to bring its operations in line with cGMP. In June of that year, Teva had revealed that the production of all but two of its 200 products had been discontinued.

Matt Fellows