Pharma merger may cause job losses in Ireland

THE $68 billion merger of pharmaceutical and biotechnology giants Pfizer and Wyeth will create a single Irish business spanning manufacturing, sales and financial services and employing 5,500 people.

The two groups yesterday predicted that the deal would create $4 billion in savings, indicating that it could result in job losses.

However, it is too soon to predict how this will hit their soon-to-be-merged Irish operations in Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and the west.

Separately, Pfizer has announced plans to cut 10 per cent of its global workforce, but it is not known if this would affect the 2,000 people that it employs in the Republic.

Pfizer Ireland spokeswoman Tara Delaney said yesterday it would be premature to comment specifically on where the group would cut jobs.

Ms Delaney also said that it would be too soon to speculate on the implications of the Wyeth- Pfizer deal for their Irish operations. Pfizer is one of the longest-established multinational pharmaceutical players in the Republic, employing 2,000 people here. In Cork it has one facility producing Biologics, that is vaccines, blood products and other related treatments.

It has three plants that manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients, which are the business end of a given drug or treatment.

In Dublin it has a sterile production facility, Pfizer Healthcare Ireland (sales and marketing of human prescription and animal health medicines), Pfizer international bank and treasury centre, global financial shared services.

Wyeth employs 3,500 people in various centres around the country. Its biotech facility in Abbotstown, Dublin, was the Republic’s biggest building project when it was under way.