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It’s summertime during a recession. What better time is there to give employees an extended vacation by announcing job cuts at the start of summer?  

Generic manufacturer Mylan announced that it is cutting jobs at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in central Puerto Rico. According to a company spokesperson, 100 jobs will be eliminated in coming weeks. Mylan had announced in February that it would be eliminating jobs at five locations as part of a companywide restructuring. The Pittsburg, PA-based company is the latest pharmaceutical company to announce cuts in Puerto Rico. The industry has eliminated more than 3,000 jobs here since mid-2006.

In other news, Palo Alto, CA-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday it plans to cut 8 percent of its work force -- or 33 employees -- primarily in research and development and administrative areas, and delay development of two drugs.

Finally, according to Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot, New Jersey-based Schering Plough has begun the massive layoffs it announced last April. As you may recall, CEO Fred Hassan still reeling from the Vytorin and Zetia flap, assured analysts and shareholders that he can right the ship by laying off about 5,500 employees or 10% of Schering’s workforce. He vowed to “consolidate management; use more shared staff support and services; reduce travel; cut sales and marketing; slash R&D; consolidate product lines, particularly in the animal health unit; and close some of the 60 manufacturing plants.” The previously announced job cuts are in addition to the 400 jobs that were eliminated after Schering Plough acquired Organon Biosciences.

Unfortunately, I guess it is going to be a long, hot, summer for the folks who lost their jobs.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Try to Hold On To Your Job (if you have one)

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Bristol-Myers Squibb announced today that it will close a 37-year-old pill manufacturing plant in the city of Barceloneta in Puerto Rico. The company plans to shut down operations at the facility over the next 12 months, eliminating about 225 jobs. The reasons for the closing were slowing demand for drugs manufactured at the facility, including two AIDS treatments and an antibiotic and a general need to cut corporate manufacturing costs. As you may recall, Bristol-Myers recently announced a restructuring to eliminate 4,300 jobs and save $1.5 billion.

This is the second time in the past few months that Bristol-Myers has announced plans to close a Puerto Rican production plant.  Last October, BMS announced that it intended to close a manufacturing facility in Mayaguez that made Pravachol (cholesterol-lowering), the Abilify (schizophrenia) and Glucophage (diabetes) that cost 400 employees their jobs. Not to worry–the company said it will continue to operate two other plants in the Puerto Rican cities of Humacao and Manati. About 3,000 high-paying pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs have been lost in Puerto Rico over the past year–given this growing trend, I think that the Puerto Rican government ought to begin to worry about its economic future.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try China, India and Singapore)

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Pfizer said on Tuesday it will eliminate another 40 workers from factories in Puerto Rico. Pfizer closed a plant in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in 2005 and last year announced 210 layoffs in the U.S. Caribbean island territory

As pointed out by Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot, Puerto Rico has long been a manufacturing hub for US pharmaceutical companies. Over the past 30 years, pharmaceutical manufacturing has accounted for a quarter of the island’s gross domestic product and currently employs about 20,000 Puerto Rican citizens.

Over the past few years, companies like Watson Pharmaceuticals (generics), GlaxoSmithKline, Teva (generics), Bristol Myers Squibb and Schering Plough have either closed or will close manufacturing facilities on the Island. These closings were somewhat surprising because the Puerto Rican workforce is one of the best pharmaceutical manufacturing workforces in the world. That said, US pharmaceutical companies are looking elsewhere to produce their drugs because of rising wages, changing tax structures and the high cost of electricity (supplied by oil-fired power plants) on the island. Further, over the past decade, there have been ongoing compliance and quality assurance problems at many of the shuttered manufacturing facilities. Officials from these companies explained that it was less costly to shut down and move operations elsewhere rather than modernize the plants and bring them into regulatory compliance.

Despite these recent facility closings, the island’s pharmaceutical manufacturing industry still produces 13 of 20 best selling drugs in the US. However that number will likely continue to dwindle over the next few years. Many companies that have closed or are considering closing production facilities are moving operations to Asian destinations like Singapore, China, Thailand (and even Vietnam) where there are trained workforces, lower wages and cost structures and many people speak English.

Unlike most pharmaceutical companies, Amgen, Abbot and Lilly recently built or relocated biomanufacturing operations to Puerto Rico. Because of a trained workforce and Puerto Rico’s ongoing familiarity with FDA regulatory requirements, I suspect that other biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies will consider establishing biomanufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico– pharma’s loss may well be biotech’s gain!!!!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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