Rhone-Poulenc Rorer cuts more than 230 jobs at Fisons

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Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. has slashed staff by more than 50 percent at the former Fisons Corp. Henrietta facility.
The reductions, carried out since March 31, leave 220 employed at the Jefferson Road prescription-drug manufacturing facility, formerly Fisons’ North American headquarters.
RPR, a global pharmaceutical firm headquartered in Collegeville, Pa., in October acquired Fisons’ parent, the Ipswich, England-based Fisons PLC, in a $2.8 billion hostile takeover.
RPR spokesman Guy Esnouf said Fisons employed roughly 450 when RPR acquired the rival pharmaceutical firm. The recent staff cuts included 170 layoffs and 60 voluntary resignations, he said.
Ten more workers transferred to other jobs at RPR’s Collegeville headquarters as part of a program to find work within the company for those displaced in the Rochester layoff, Esnouf added.
Those moves were part of RPR’s program to fully integrate the two firms’ operations, he said, in effect making one company–RPR–out of the two.
While RPR will continue to sell a number of products under Fisons’ brand name, particularly in the United Kingdom, functionally Fisons has ceased to exist, Esnouf said.
Most jobs cut here were administrative positions, eliminated as duplicated functions have been transferred to Collegeville, Esnouf said. He said he could not supply a breakdown of current manufacturing and administrative slots at the Rochester facility.
With operational consolidations between RPR and Fisons complete, RPR’s Rochester employment for the time being will remain stable, but further downsizing remains a possibility, Esnouf said.
RPR also has announced intentions to eliminate 2,900 of its 28,000 workers worldwide over the next two years, he said, and more Rochester jobs could be cut in that effort.
In addition, the firm has marked a number of Fisons brand names for divestiture over the next several years.
Esnouf said he could not reveal what those products are or whether such divestitures will affect RPR’s Rochester operation.
Products manufactured at the Jefferson Road facility include a number of prescription drugs such as cough syrups called Tussionex and Delsym, and a steroid used in treating rheumatic disorders called Pediapred.
In April, RPR divested itself of Fisons’ scientific-instruments business, selling off parts to several firms for $271.8 million.
Those sales completed deals begun by Fisons before the takeover, Esnouf said.
Some $235 million in cash proceeds from the sales will, nevertheless, help RPR retire debt from the Fisons takeover.
The company hopes to reduce its debt by $750 million this year, said RPR chief financial officer Patrick Langlois.