Viatris, the drug company formed by the merger of Mylan and Pfizer's UpJohn unit that was completed in November, said Dec. 11 that it will be laying off as many as 9,000 staff members and downsizing or divesting up to 15 manufacturing facilities globally.
The plans are part of a multiyear global restructuring initiative with the goal of cutting costs by at least $1 billion by the end of 2024 or sooner. The company said it expects up to 20 percent of its staff of 45,000 to be affected.
The drug company announced five sites that will be closed: its oral solid dose manufacturing sites in Morgantown, W.V., Baldoyle, Ireland and Caguas, Puerto Rico; and its Unit 11 and Unit 2 active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facilities in India.
Viatris also said it recently completed a divestiture of its injectables manufacturing site in Poland.
The company said that wherever possible, it will try to find buyers for its facilities to keep as many jobs as possible.
Read the full news release here.