Restructuring Details From Hoechst Marion Roussel

In order to integrate the pharmaceutical businesses of Hoechst, Marion Merrell Dow and Roussel Uclaf, the newly-formed company Hoechst Marion Roussel has announced plans to reduce employment within the company by 8,000 globally from a total staff of around 43,000. It also aims to reduce operating expenses by around $800 million by 1997. Its global headquarters is based in Frankfurt, Germany.

The firm's research portfolio will focus on eight therapeutic areas: cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, respiratory disorders, rheumatology, anti-infectives, the central nervous system, oncology and bone diseases. These areas of research will be focused in four sites as follows:

- Frankfurt (Germany) - cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders and rheumatology/immunology; - Paris (France) - infectious diseases and bone diseases; - Somerville (USA) - central nervous system, oncology and respiratory disorders. Also biotechnology activities; and - Tokyo (Japan) - bone reconstruction. In the next two years, HMR will close its pharmaceutical research sites in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Gerenzano, Italy, Strasbourg, France, and Swindon, UK. The firm says that whenever possible staff will be offered transfers. Also, the firm is carrying out an analysis of a research site in Bombay, India, to determine the future scale of the natural resource screening activities located there. Combinatorial chemistry activities will continue in Tucson, Arizona, USA.