Mylan seeking to reduce workforce
Mylan N.V. confirmed Tuesday it is taking steps to reduce its global workforce in an effort to eliminate redundancies as a result of several acquisitions it has made over the past several years.
Reports of the Southpointe-based generic pharmaceutical giant’s cutbacks first surfaced Monday afternoon in a report from West Virginia Radio Corp.’s online site that Mylan employees learned of the cutbacks during a conference call.? Some of the reductions reportedly affect facilities in Morgantown, W.Va., Washington, D.C., St. Albans City, Vt., and Greensboro, N.C.
According to the report, nonunion employees were given a Dec. 13 deadline to accept severance packages or reapply for their jobs. Employees accepting voluntary buyouts would work until Jan. 11.
On Tuesday, the company issued a statement to the Observer-Reporter, stating that the cutbacks, which affect less than 10 percent of its worldwide workforce of 40,000, are a result of acquisitions the company has made over the past two years.
“Since 2015, Mylan has made a number of significant acquisitions, and as part of the holistic, global integration of Mylan we are focusing on how to best optimize and maximize all of our assets, including considering ways to reduce redundancy across our organization, across all geographies,” the statement said. “As part of this process, we anticipate taking actions that we expect will impact less than 10 percent of our global workforce.”
In the past two years, Mylan has acquired four companies, including the Abbott EPD and Swedish-based Meda businesses.
The company did not say how many positions would be eliminated at its Southpointe headquarters or in its manufacturing facility in Morgantown.
Last month, the company reported a third-quarter loss of $119.8 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.
Mylan stock, which trades on the NASDAQ market, closed Tuesday at $35.86,up 21 cents, but nearly $20 below its 52-week high of $55.51.
Mylan recently agreed to a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its EpiPen products to settle allegations it overbilled Medicaid for the medication. At issue was whether the product should have been classified as a generic under a Medicaid program.
The price of the auto-injector and the company’s EpiPen Jr. had increased more than 500 percent in nine years.
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch was grilled by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in September over the price hike, which coincided with her own salary increase.