Drugs firm staff face the axe

Apr 22 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

UP TO 65 jobs will be axed at a pharmaceuticals firm after it struggled to find a buyer for its North East plant.

Danish-owned Lundbeck last month revealed plans to sell its £40m site at Seal Sands, near Redcar on Teesside.

Yesterday the company said none of the parties who had expressed an interest in the site would be looking to acquire it as a going concern.

The firm said 50 workers would be made redundant by the end of April with the remaining 15 members of staff staying on to oversee the two-month decommissioning process.

Operations director Peter Trickett said the company had already made a number of voluntary redundancies while a third of workers who will lose their jobs have already found a new employer.

He said: “There has been some preliminary interest, however discussions are still at a very early stage and none of the parties with a potential interest are looking to take on the site as a going concern.

“Therefore regrettably the company has had no alternative but to commence the redundancy process.”

Lundbeck is currently working with a specialist HR company and the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) to help workers facing redundancy find future employment.

NEPIC chief executive Dr Stan Higgins said he was optimistic that Lund- beck staff will find jobs in the region’s process industry.

He said: “Between now and 2014 the process industry will be recruiting well over 12,000 workers. So the people with the skills are going to find jobs.

“As far as I’m aware there’s still some people interested in buying the Lund- beck facility but it’s very early days.”

Pharmaceuticals exports from the North East, which have grown rapidly in recent years, are currently valued at around £1.7bn compared to the region’s overall £9.5bn export market.

Lundbeck first set up in the region in 2001 when it opened its Seal Sands site which was developed by the regional arm of building services firm Shepherd Engineering Services.

The company, which makes the antidepressant drug Escitalopram at its Teesside plant, has been in business since 1915 having made a range of products from synthetic sugar to silver paper.

PAGE TWO: Peter Trickett answers questions on the future of the Seal Sands site.