Shares to start trading in Viatris drug firm created from Pfizer's Lipitor and Viagra      

It also marks a move away by Pfizer from medicines under the Upjohn subsidiary that employs around 200 people in Cork. File picture: Larry Cummins

Shares in the new firm Viatris, which was created by Pfizer combining its drugs, including Lipitor and Viagra, that are made by its Upjohn unit in Cork with rival drugmaker Mylan, start trading on the US Nasdaq exchange on Tuesday. 

It is the culmination of plans first announced last summer and which got regulatory approval in the US in recent weeks. 

It also marks a move away by Pfizer from medicines under the Upjohn subsidiary that employs around 200 people in Cork.

Pfizer is one of the two frontrunners in the race to develop a vaccine to defeat Covid-19 has been focusing on vaccine research in recent years.          

In Ireland, Upjohn now joins Viatris which brings together Mylan's workforce of around 1,500 people from across its four sites in Dublin and Galway. 

In total, Viatris will employ 45,000 people around the world and include its main bases in Pittsburgh, Shanghai, and Hyderabad in India.

"Today, we celebrate the launch of Viatris, the culmination of more than a decade of strategic, thoughtful work to build a global company with the breadth and depth to provide more efficient access to high-quality medicines to patients and healthcare systems around the world," said Robert Coury, Viatris chairman.