Swiss healthcare company Roche is to quit manufacturing at four sites in Europe and the US as it optimizes its capacity utilization. The sites include Clarecastle, Ireland; Leganes, Spain; Segrate, Italy; and Florence, South Carolina, US.

The move will affect roughly 1,200 positions at the company which said it is looking at opportunities to sell the facilities in order to minimize job losses.

Roche said the restructure is in response to its evolving portfolio and the shift to a new generation of specialized medicines based on small molecules  that will be produced in lower volumes than traditional medicines and require novel manufacturing technologies.

In order to strengthen its development and launch capabilities, Roche will invest 300 million Swiss francs ($295 million) in a facility in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland, to support its future technology needs.

The transition will begin next year and is planned to end by 2021. It is expected that the site exits will result in non-core restructuring costs of 1.6 billion Swiss francs until 2021.