Allergan axing a further 577 at Cali HQ, post-Actavis acquisition

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)​ published by the State of California Employment Development Department, Allergan announced earlier this month it 577 staff at the Irvine site would be permanently laid off, effective from the beginning of June.

The news comes on the back of announcement last July where the manufacturer of Botox products said it was looking to cut 1,500 mostly R&D and sales jobs​ – or about 13% of its workforce – and shutter three sites in California and Massachusetts, in order to fend off a hostile bid from drugmaker Valeant.

Irvine is the firm’s headquarters and primary administrative and research facilities. 129 jobs at the site were lost in October, and a further 371 went in November, according to the WARN.

This latest decision to reduce staff further at the site comes a month after Actavis completed its $66bn (€62bn) takeover of the firm, first announced in November​.

“With the acquisition now complete, we will immediately begin implementing our comprehensive integration plans to ensure that we leverage our strengthened global organization to generate sustainable organic earnings growth from our newly expanded base, and continue our ascent into the fastest-growing and most dynamic growth pharmaceutical company in global healthcare,”​ Actavis CEO Brent Saunders said in a statement in March.

Following the $28bn acquisition of Forest Laboratories, Actavis similarly announced​ a series of job cuts as part of its integration and network streamlining plans.