Merck to close Irish manufacturing unit
pharmafile | March 11, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â MSD, MerckÂ
Merck & Co has said that a manufacturing unit in Rathdrum, Ireland will close by the end of 2015 with the loss of 280 jobs.
Rathdrum is the latest facility to be targeted by Merck (known as MSD in Europe) as it rationalises manufacturing in the wake of its $41 billion takeover of Schering-Plough in 2009, and employs around 12% of the firm’s total workforce in Ireland, according to a report in the Irish Times.
Last month Merck’s chief financial officer Peter Kellogg said the company had already reduced its manufacturing network to 75 sites from more than 90 at the time of the merger, but would be cutting more sites over the next two to three years.
Merck also announced staff reductions at another former S-P facility in Brinny, Cork, last year, having already cut around 40 positions at Rathdrum in 2011.
Rathdrum produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for respiratory care, infectious disease and cardiovascular medicines, supporting product sales of around €1.5 billion according to the MSD website.
The announcement comes shortly after Merck announced the sale of another API unit – located in Oss, the Netherlands – to South African generic drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare.
No jobs are reported to be going until the end of 2014, with production at the plant set to be transferred to other plants in Merck’s network, including Ballydine in Ireland and Singapore, and to contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs).
The Irish Development Agency (IDA Ireland) said it would work with the company and the Irish government to try to find a buyer for the facility.
The director of the Rathdrum site, John Smith, said: “The proposed action is the result of MSD’s ongoing review of the global manufacturing capacities needed to support its growth, business goals, product portfolio and pipeline.”
The timing is a blow to Ireland’s pharma sector, coming after GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott both recently announced job cuts at their facilities in Ireland.
The news has not all been bad of late, however, with Sanofi announcing a €44 million investment in its Waterford facility, while GSK offered reprieve for a plant in Sligo threatened with closure, as well as a €76 million investment in Dublin and Galway which should net 500 new jobs.
Phil Taylor
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