Teva Pharma plan risks 38 jobs but other plants safe

Teva Pharmaceuticals — the generics drug giant and maker of Sudocrem — will close one of two laboratories in Dundalk but major manufacturing plants in Waterford and at Baldoyle in Dublin appear safe amid a worldwide cost-cutting review.

In Ireland, the drugs firm said earlier this week that its plans to close a testing laboratory at the Xerox Technology Park in Dundalk next year potentially puts at risk 38 of the 51 jobs at the facility.

It said that the Dundalk decision came after it completed the acquisition of Actavis last August as it sets up a single European testing laboratory in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, on the basis of costs.

However, the Dundalk closure plans had “no implications” for its other operations in the Republic and the North, Teva said.

In Waterford, the company employs over 500 people making respiratory drugs. Its plant in Dublin’s Baldoyle employs 50 people making the over-the-counter Sudocrem nappy rash cream.

Worldwide, Teva has signalled plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs as the world’s largest maker of generic drugs seeks to exit unprofitable operations and reduce expenses in an effort to pare its debt and revive growth.

It has over 38,000 employees worldwide across production facilities in Israel, North America, Europe and Latin America.