Pfizer/Pharmacia merger costs jobs

In the wake of its US$58bn (€50m) takeover of Pharmacia to become the world's second-largest company, Pfizer has announced the first of the expected 2,000 job losses worldwide resulting from the restructuring programme.

Two hundred jobs are to go at the company's site in Sandwich in the UK. However, Pfizer said this would secure the future of the site, and many of those affected are expected to be redeployed elsewhere in the organisation. Most of the posts being lost are in support functions, which will allow the company to concentrate on its r&d activities.

Elsewhere, Pfizer is also closing three r&d facilities: the former Pharmacia research laboratories in San Francisco, California, and Skokie, Illinois; and its r&d laboratory at Fresnes in France. However, it is not yet known how many of the 2,000 employees at those facilities will lose their jobs and how many will be relocated, Pfizer said.

It has also confirmed that cancer drug development programmes at its research facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be transferred to other sites, and a 'significant change' in the company's research facilities in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, is also on the cards.

Ceo Hank McKinnell has said that the company must make 'hard decisions' about where to invest and how to streamline the company. 'We cannot simply add Pharmacia to Pfizer,' he stressed. The cuts in research jobs could be followed by cutbacks on the manufacturing side next year. Pfizer had about 98,000 employees at the end of 2002, while Pharmacia employed 43,000 workers.