The Merck factory in Pavia

Closure in 2012 or sale of the Comazzo (Lodi) plant where over 130 people are employed, uncertain future for the Pavia plant (about 270 people), sale of a medical-scientific information structure with 223 employees, transfer of the headquarters to Rome with 91 redundancies identified out of 238 temporary and non-temporary employees.

It is the rationalization framework in Italy of the pharmaceutical multinational Merck Sharp & Dohme after the acquisition of Shering Plough which gave birth to the second largest pharmaceutical group in the world.

The scenario was illustrated yesterday by the leaders of the group to the Ministry of Economic Development during a meeting with the trade union organisations. The integration process should be completed by next May.

According to what has been learned, the Comazzo plant, whose closure had already been announced in 2012, could be taken over by currently unknown buyers. On the other hand, the fate of the Pavia plant would be more uncertain, for which the future structure has not yet been decided.

A sale is also looming for the medical-scientific information structure. An Italian company has reportedly expressed interest in the promoted drug, Vytorin (used to reduce cholesterol), but the integration process has already caused the exit of a thousand informants and other personnel, the sale of the IRBM research center in Rome and two daughter companies.

In recent months, the trade union organizations had already underlined the high price paid in Italy for the restructuring of foreign multinationals: on the one hand, a reduction in personnel, on the other, the downsizing of activities to marketing only after the transfer of research and production to other countries.

The News of the Sole 24 Ore <