Teva to cut 315 in Irish plant wind-down

Half of Teva Pharmaceutical's workers at a Waterford, Ireland, plant are getting the axe. In the second plant-layoff announcement this week, the Israeli generics maker told workers that 315 jobs will go, via a mixture of voluntary buyouts and layoffs. The cuts will come within 12 months as Teva stops making drug tablets at the plant.

The plant won't close completely, however; the remaining workers will still turn out inhalers for Teva. And word is that the tablet production isn't going away. It's just being transferred out of Ireland to Hungary, RTÉ News reports.

Teva's job-cuts news comes on the heels of Sanofi-Aventis' announcement that it would shut down a plant in Kansas City, MO. About 370 jobs are on the line there. It's all part of pharma's ongoing efforts to cut costs and streamline production. With two megadeals nearing closure--Merck and Schering-Plough's merger, and Pfizer's buyout of Wyeth--more manufacturing cuts are sure to come.

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