Hospira to close North Carolina plant

Hospira Inc. plans to close a production facility in North Carolina in the second half of 2015.

The Lake Forest company makes four Hospira products at the plant in Clayton, North Carolina. Those products will transferred to other Hospira plants, discontinued, contracted out to other companies, or sold, the company said in a statement.

“After a thorough evaluation of the site and the various products produced at this facility, we had to make this difficult decision,” said Matt Stober, senior vice president for operations.

The maker of injectable drugs and medical devices said the cost of modernizing the plant figured into the decision to close it.

Hospira will take pre-tax charges totaling $45 million for the closure, including a $22 million non-cash charge in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company expects employee-related costs, including severance, of about $15 million.

The closing will affect about 250 employees. Hospira employs about 3,000 people in North Carolina.