IRISH PHARMACEUTICAL group Elan has no further plans to cut jobs following its deal with US pharma giant Johnson Johnson, the company’s management indicated yesterday.
The company said jobs at its Athlone plant would be secured for the “foreseeable future” by the manufacture of a new drug Fampridine.
Elan cut 115 jobs in Ireland in the February, and now employs 550 people between its Athlone and Dublin sites. Following Johnson Johnson’s $1 billion (€706 million) investment, it now expects to add to its 1,500 global workforce, primarily in San Francisco.
At its agm in Dublin yesterday, one shareholder expressed his concern about a “massive destruction in shareholder value” over the past year. Elan’s shares closed yesterday at a price of €5.20 on the Iseq index; in July 2008 they were trading above €21.00.
“We seem to have dug ourselves into an appalling hole. I just hope it’s not mission impossible,” said one attendee who identified himself as small shareholder.
Elan chairman Kyran McLaughlin said the Johnson Johnson deal would stabilise the company’s share price. He admitted he was “surprised” that investors had not reacted more positively to the partnership.
Elan chief executive Kelly Martin, who is interviewed in The Irish Times today, said the group was pleased with the uptake of patients on its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Tysabri, which returned to the market three years ago after a 17-month suspension because of its link to a deadly viral brain disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. Some 43,400 patients are currently on Tysabri.
Shane Cooke, head of drug technologies, said it still believed a target of 100,000 was “legitimate”, but no time frame was being set.
Biogen, Elan’s partner on Tysabri, yesterday reported a better-than-expected rise in revenue to $1.1 billion, from $993.4 million, helped by increased sales of Tysabri. Elan reports its second-quarter numbers next Tuesday.
