Sector News

Mylan axing 500 jobs in West Virginia to 'right-size' plant

April 24, 2018
Life sciences

To “right-size” what Mylan says is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical plants, the generic drugmaker is laying off about 500 employees in Morgantown, West Virginia. The cuts come during a tough time for the generic industry at large—Mylan included—but ahead of some potentially lucrative launches for the company.

About 3,500 people work at the manufacturing complex now, according to a Mylan spokesperson, and that number will shrink to 3,000 after the cuts. The layoffs will mostly affect employees in operations.

“As the industry has changed and regulatory expectations have continued to evolve, we’ve realized that our Morgantown plant needed to be right-sized to be less complex,” Mylan’s spokesperson said.

The changes those cuts will make are “consistent with discussions we are having with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and … necessary in order to position the site as best we can for continued operations,” the spokesperson added. In a note Monday, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris predicted that investors will press the company over the issue when it reports first-quarter results.

The company said it’s “committed” to maintaining its U.S. manufacturing footprint and plans to “continue making the majority of the medicines we supply to the U.S in the U.S.”

Meanwhile, Mylan could have some big launches ahead. The company believes its Advair generic could win a U.S. approval this year, allowing it to challenge GlaxoSmithKline’s megablockbuster inhaler for market share. And Mylan president Rajiv Malik said in January the company’s biosim to Amgen’s white blood cell booster Neulasta could roll out in the middle of the year. It’s part of Mylan’s efforts to position itself against a tough pricing climate by investing in biosimilars and complex generics.

Mylan and other generic drugmakers have faced generic pricing pressure for years now, and giants in the industry are slashing their payrolls to compensate. Teva plans to set loose 14,000 of its workers in a massive cutback. Mylan itself announced 3,500 job cuts back in 2016 to “reduce redundancy” following an M&A streak.

Before that announcement, Mylan inked a deal to buy Abbott Laboratories’ generic meds for $5.3 billion in 2015, transferring its tax headquarters to the Netherlands in the process. It also scooped up Meda for $7 billion and paid $1 billion for several topical skin meds from Renaissance Holdings.

By Eric Sagonowsky

Source: Fierce Pharma

comments closed

Related News

March 25, 2023

UK regulator makes biggest changes in 20 years to speed up trials, attract global studies

Life sciences

The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has introduced several new measures to make it easier to run clinical trials in the country, marking the first time in 20 years the regulatory body has made such an overhaul.

March 25, 2023

Novo partners with Dewpoint to mine an emerging field for new drugs

Life sciences

Diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk is partnering with Dewpoint Therapeutics in a deal aimed at uncovering new treatments for insulin resistance by targeting cellular droplets known as biomolecular condensates. Dewpoint will receive $55 million upfront from Novo, which plans to develop small molecule drugs against targets discovered using Dewpoint’s technology.

March 25, 2023

Sanofi’s Dupixent receives EC approval for atopic dermatitis

Life sciences

Sanofi has secured approval for Dupixent (dupilumab) from the European Commission (EC) to treat severe atopic dermatitis in children aged six months to five years, who are systemic therapy candidates, in the European Union (EU). This approval makes Dupixent the first and only medicine available in the US and Europe for the treatment of such young children.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach