The drug maker, Pfizer, will cut 6,000 jobs, or 18 percent of its work force, at its 78 manufacturing plants over the next five years as it pares operations following last year’s purchase of its smaller rival, Wyeth. þþPfizer, the world’s biggest drug maker, plans to close eight plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico and the United States by late 2015 and reduce activities at six factories in those countries, Germany and Britain. þþPfizer had 40 manufacturing plants before buying more than three dozen Wyeth operations in the acquisition last October. þþThe affected plants make conventional pills, injectable medicines, biotech drugs and consumer health care products. Pfizer will wind down their operations over the next 18 months to five years, depending on business considerations like the time required to transfer manufacturing. þþThe company said in November it would close six research sites and trim jobs in the United States and Britain as part of its absorption of Wyeth. Pfizer then began a six-month study of how to reconfigure its manufacturing. þþ“We have a complex network of manufacturing plants, with excess capacity that is not good for costs,” Nat Ricciardi, Pfizer’s president of manufacturing, said in an interview. þþPfizer can be more competitive, both in its operations and drug pricing, by streamlining its plants and improving their processes, Mr. Ricciardi said. þþ“It’s not disproportionately Wyeth,” Mr. Ricciardi said, adding that many legacy Pfizer plants and employees are on the target list. Half of the plants scheduled to close are legacy Pfizer sites, the company said. þþPfizer said it is on track to reduce costs by $4 billion to $5 billion by 2012. þþPfizer is counting on the savings to help offset an expected decline in Lipitor sales, the company’s $12 billion-a-year cholesterol drug, which will face generic competition late next year. þþThe 14 plants scheduled to close or cut back operations are among Pfizer’s 40 main sites for making prescription drugs. þþBy June, the company plans to make recommendations for plants that make animal-health products and later this year will evaluate plants that make nutritional products or drugs in emerging markets. þþBatt O’Keeffe, Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation. said the job losses were “deeply regrettable.” þþ“Pfizer remains a major multinational employer in Ireland, with more than 4,200 workers involved in the manufacture of high-end products for the life science industry worldwide.” þþIreland wooed multinational companies with a low corporate tax rate but several groups, like Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, have announced plans to relocate to cheaper sites. Shares of Pfizer fell 30 cents, to $15.81. þþ
Source: NY Times
