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Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Slashing Hundreds of Jobs in Britain and Ireland


Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Among the approximate 6,000 jobs to be cut by American drug giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), 90 will be lost in Britain, and another 785 in Ireland.

Most of this comes in the aftermath of the merger with Wyeth last year, which they evidently had some overlap with, where they now are starting to streamline their operations and get rid of excess capacity in order to become more competitive.

The 90 British jobs lost will be in Havant, Hampshire, where they package and distribute a variety of biotechnology products.

Irish job losses will be spread across three plants, identified as being located in Shanbally, Dublin and Loughbeg.

Nat Ricciardi, Pfizer's president of global manufacturing, said the restructuring had to be done to remain competitive, commenting: "The restructuring of our global plant network is critical to our efforts to remain competitive so that we can continue to meet patient needs and expand the access and affordability of our medicines."
 
Other areas Pfizer plants will be closed are three in the U.S. and two in Puerto Rico.

With their major drug Lipitor about to lose patent protection, Pfizer decided to merge with Wyeth to expand their expertise and product line, which would have been decimated when generic versions of Lipitor are offered on the market in 2011.

Pfizer also manufactures Viagra, used to treat erectile disfunction.

Overall, approximately 20,000 jobs will ultimately be lost from the merger of the two pharmaceutical giants.



Article by Gary B

The views expressed are the subjective opinion of the article's author and not of FinancialAdvisory.com



Tags: biotechnology , drugs , job cuts , pfizer , pharmaceutical , wyeth