Drugmaker Pfizer said it will cut 6,000 manufacturing jobs as part of its global restructuring efforts after the company's $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth last year.
Pfizer to cut 6,000 manufacturing jobs
The move represents the first phase of Pfizer's previously announced plans to significantly trim its workforce and plant operations by 2015. The job cuts will take place over the next several years as Pfizer shutters plant operations in eight locations: Caguas, Puerto Rico; Carolina, Puerto Rico; Dublin; Loughbeg, Ireland; Shanbally, Ireland; Pearl River, N.Y.; Rouses Point, N.Y.; and Richmond, Va. The drugmaker will also trim production at six other locations.
Pfizer executives have not announced a specific timetable for the layoffs and plant closures, but said they would happen over the next 18 months to five years. Pfizer Global Manufacturing President Nat Ricciardi said in a news release that the restructuring is necessary for the drugmaker to remain competitive and position itself for growth in the biopharmaceutical and other drug-therapy areas.
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