Between 180-190 jobs to go at Takeda pharmaceutical company

By the end of this year none of the 500 employees will remain working at the Takeda company’s current premises at number 10 Zählerweg in the city. Between 180-190 jobs are to go altogether, with the remaining employees relocated to the pharmaceutical company’s European headquarters in Opfikon in the canton of Zurich.

It was earlier this year that the Japanese company announced it was taking over its Irish competitor, Shire, for $62 billion and that it intended to shut down the latter’s premises in Zug by the end of 2019. This, after Shire itself only moved to Zug in 2014.

As Maurizio Manetti, who wrote this article in the economics section of the Zuger Zeitung, mentioned, a consultation period with employees’ representatives was started last week and this is to continue until 27 May. As mentioned, between 180 and190 jobs of the current 500 employed there are to go altogether, with the remining jobs being transferred to Opfikon.

A spokesman for the Japanese company confirmed the situation but also mentioned that restructuring was not complete, hence all figures mentioned were approximations. It was announced, that between 80-90 jobs were to go in Opfikon, too, where the current workforce also amounts to 500. This means that, in all, some 280 Swiss-based jobs would be lost. Wherever possible employees would given the opportunity of working at other jobs within the company, it operating also in Neuchatel in French-speaking Switzerland and in Pfäffikon in the canton of Schwyz, where, at this latter location, some 50 employees work.

As previously reported, Takeda’s decision to close its Zug premises was linked to its plans to streamline its processes as well as opting to keep its headquarters in Zurich because of their proximity to the airport and the life-science cluster in the greater Zurich area. Furthermore, as the spokesman elaborated, it was felt Zurich was better placed to support the company’s long-term plans for growth within Europe.

It was back in March, that, on hearing Takeda’s intentions, Bernhard Neidhart, the head of Zug’s Office of Economics and Labour, said that this was how business went, with the canton benefiting for the most part, but losing out on this occasion. Speaking in her capacity as director of the Cantonal Department of Economic Development, Silvia Thalmann-Gut expressed her regret at Takeda’s decision “though the canton remains one where the framework conditions for companies were very favourable”.

Takeda manufactures pharmaceutical products used in the treatment of cancer, problems with the alimentary canal, nervous and other rare diseases.