Merck KgaA to restructure its French pharma activities
Merck KgaA is planning to restructure its pharma-activities in France, including the closure of its Lacassagne r&d and production site in Lyon, which will affect 320 jobs. Preclinical r&d in the area of diabetes and its complications, conducted by 160 employees, would be terminated at Lacassagne by the end of 2004 and would be refocused at its existing diabetes research centre in Chilly-Mazarin near Paris. Non-clinical development activities would be shifted to existing centres within the Merck Group, where and if appropriate.
Pharmaceutical production in Lacassagne, also accounting for 160 employees, would be closed by mid-2006. However, with its existing Semoy facility, Merck wants to keep France as its second-most important European production site for ethical pharmaceuticals.