Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine drug maker, laid off 70 workers last month after stopping production of an anesthetic that was tied to Michael Jackson's death last year, a company spokeswoman confirmed.
The company was not implicated in Jackson's death but was one of three drug makers that manufacture the powerful sedative Propofol.
The Los Angeles County Coroner found last year that Jackson's death was due to an overdose of Propofol, which his doctor said he administered to help Jackson sleep.
Teva advised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May that it would discontinue production of Propofol. Denise Bradley, a Teva spokeswoman, said at the time that the drug is hard to manufacture and the company gets little or no profit from it.
The company had to halt production last year and recall some Propofol after 41 patients fell ill with flu-like symptoms due to elevated endotoxin levels found in some vials of the sedative. The company also faces numerous lawsuits over the drug.
Bradley said Thursday the layoffs in Irvine were because the company had stopped production of the drug.
Teva is headquartered in Israel. The Irvine facility is the site of the former Sicor Inc., which Teva bought in 2003 for $3.4 billion.
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