Mylan (EpiPen manufacturer) Lays Off 15 Percent of West Virginia Workforce

[TexasTowelie]

A pharmaceuticals company has laid off 15 percent of its workforce at a West Virginia manufacturing facility.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals released a statement Friday saying the "right-sizing" is consistent with discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to continue operations. Mylan spokeswoman Christine Waller tells The Dominion Post that around 500 positions have been cut, leaving the West Virginia workforce at around 3,000.

In response to a question that asked if the layoffs were connected to FDA inspections of the plant, Waller said the goal was to reduce the site's size and complexity.

The layoffs are effective immediately. The company is still in discussion with United Steel Workers Local 8-957 regarding separation packages for senior union members.

Read more: http://wvpublic.org/post/mylan-lays-15-percent-west-virginia-workforce

[mercuryblues]

1. The tax cuts they got

combined with the huge increases in their drug prices, they lay off employees?

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/epipen-maker-also-hiked-prices-slew-other-medications-n636981

"Mylan has raised the prices more than 20 percent on 24 products, and more than 100 percent on seven products," Maris wrote.

He warned that the Netherlands-based drugmaker — whose CEO Heather Bresch saw her compensation increase by nearly 700 percent from 2007 to 2015 — could draw "greater regulatory scrutiny and headline risk" as a result of such price boosts.

They include a stunning 542 percent increase for the drug ursodiol, which is a generic medication used to treat gallstones.

Maris also flagged a 444 percent increase in another generic drug, metoclopramide, which is commonly used to treat GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease as well as gastroparesis. Dicyclomine, a drug used to treat irritable bowel syndrome, had its price jacked up by 400 percent by Mylan.