Organon closure ‘threatens Dutch innovation and pharma industry’

The loss of 2,175 jobs and the closure of the R&D department at the Organon plant in Oss means the end of the last major pharmaceutical research centre in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant writes on Friday.


‘This is the end of this country in terms of innovation,’ Organon’s central works council said in a statement.
On Thursday, Organon owner Merck announced it is moving the Oss research operations to the US, and closing units in Schaijk and Boxmeer. Production of drugs will continue but on a far smaller scale.
Shocked
News of the job losses has hit the town hard. ‘We are angry, shocked… every superlative is appropriate,’ works council representative Nicole van Straten told the paper. ‘It is unbelieveable that 1,100 highly-skilled researchers are being put onto the street.’
The departure of Organon is ‘a totally missed chance,’ said Michel Dutrée, head of the Dutch pharmaceutical organisation Nefarma. ‘Now you see what happens if the government does not have a proper strategy for innovation.’
Dutrée told the paper he was concerned other pharmaceutical firms will also now leave. For example, it is still unclear what will happen to the R&D department of Solvay since the company was taken over by Abbott Laboratories, he told the paper.
Government
Merck’s European regional director Hans Kortlever admitted the jobs losses are worse than expected. ‘It is a real blow to the workers and to the Netherlands, which is losing half its pharmaceutical R&D facilities in one go,’ he told the paper.
The closure is the result of globalisation and problems facing the pharmaceuticals industry, he said. And the Dutch government is not overly welcoming to pharmaceutical companies either, he said.
Nefarma’s Dutrée also criticised the government. ‘If you make medicine here you want to be able to sell it as well,’ he told the paper. ‘But in the Netherlands it takes for ever before a medicine is approved. And then you have to get it included in the insurance system.’
He also criticised the government for not doing more to keep Organon. ‘Why did prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende not just phone up Merck’s chief exectutive?,’ he asked. ‘That is what [French president] Sarkozy does.’

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation