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Posted on Mon, Nov. 09, 2009 10:32 PM
Pfizer trimming research plants after buying Wyeth
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TRENTON, N.J. | Less than a month after buying Wyeth, drug giant Pfizer Inc. has mapped out a new structure for its research and development operations.
The plan, announced Monday, will close six of the two companies’ 20 research facilities, reorganize and consolidate others, and cut the jobs of as many as 2,000 scientists and laboratory technicians.
Pfizer, which is based in New York, solidified its position as the world’s biggest drugmaker with its $68 billion purchase of drug and vaccine maker Wyeth on Oct. 15, diversifying overnight by adding Wyeth’s biotech drugs and consumer and animal health divisions.
The two executives heading the combined research operation said that integrating and reorganizing the two companies’ laboratories would boost research productivity and save money.
In addition, Pfizer will eliminate about 35 percent of the 16 million square feet of research space it now has around the world.
It will now have five key research centers, each focused on specific disease areas, plus nine other laboratories with specialized research capabilities. Research operations in Princeton, N.J.; two sites each in New York and North Carolina; and one in the United Kingdom will be closed.
“We have really built the very best from the two companies,” said Martin Mackay, president of research and development for traditional medicines.
Major sites being consolidated include a large facility in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Mo. That site is being sold back to its original owner, Monsanto Co., for $435 million, and Pfizer will keep a small research group there under a lease agreement. About 600 of the 1,000 Chesterfield jobs will be cut, but some workers will get transfer offers.
Mackay would not specify the total number of people who would lose jobs but said it would make “a significant contribution” to the 15 percent of total staff Pfizer plans to cut.
Posted on Mon, Nov. 09, 2009 10:32 PM
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