One More Thing: May brings little cheer for Pfizer staff

Workers at Pfizer could be forgiven if they failed to identify with the general air of summer expectation that tends to resonate at this time of year.

For Irish employees of the US pharma giant, mid-May is more redolent of gloom, especially on the employment front.

Wednesday’s news that 136 jobs are at risk with the impending closure of the Little Island plant in Cork – if an outside buyer cannot be found – comes just a year after the company announced it was seeking 180 job cuts at the same Little Island plant and in Ringaskiddy.

That announcement, in early June, was a clear indicator of just how damaging the expiry of patent protection for the cholesterol drug Lipitor had been to sales of what has been the world’s best-selling drug.

Three years ago, Pfizer also chose mid-May to announce plans to close three plants. That included the Loughbeg Lipitor plant (in preparation for reduced demand post-patent); the brand new biologics facility in Shanbally, in which it had just invested €190 million; and the Pottery Road site in Dún Laoghaire, where Pfizer had spent €240 million updating the plant to accommodate biologics . It also cut 275 jobs at its Newbridge plant.

All told those mid-May/ early-June announcements signalled the end of 1,100 Pfizer jobs – though some were subsequently saved under new owners. No wonder, it’s not Pfizer workers’ favourite time of year.