Orion Corporation will develop a more flexible and lighter operational model for the pharmaceutical research and development of the company. The statutory negotiations with the personnel representatives are therefore introduced in Finland. The purpose of the negotiations is to achieve a more flexible cost structure and operational model as well as to reduce costs. The rearrangements dealt with in the negotiations are concerning primarily the pharmaceutical R&D, and they may lead to a reduction of the personnel by up to 300 employees. The changes are planned to be implemented in the course of 2009. By reshaping the current operational model and cost structure of the R&D into a more flexible one, Orion prepares for ensuring its prerequisites of doing business as well as its competitiveness even after the expiry of the basic patents protecting its most important products, in the early part of the next decade.
President and CEO Timo Lappalainen says: "The changes taking place in our business environment require us to adopt ways which will enable us to allocate the use of our resources more flexibly than today and to secure the profitability and the growth opportunities of the company also in the long term. When implementing the necessary changes we cannot, unfortunately, avoid personnel reductions. With the changes now being prepared we will strengthen Orion's strategic capability to be a company offering new medicinal treatments even in the future, with engagement in pharmaceutical research and development. I regard it an important objective for Orion, the most important pharmaceutical enterprise in Finland, to ensure that it can invest in its core operations and continue offering the specialists of this industry a wide-angle view into the broad spectrum of job opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry and research."
The personnel negotiations and the related grounds do not give reason for revisiting the financial full-year outlook for 2008 provided in the Interim Report 1-9/2008 on 28 October 2008.
Orion Corporation
Timo Lappalainen Olli Huotari
President and CEO Senior VP, Corporate Functions
Contact person:
Timo Lappalainen, President and CEO, phone +358 10 426 3692
ABOUT ORION
Orion is dedicated to treating and preventing disease by discovery and developing innovative medicinal treatments. In 2007, Orion generated net sales of EUR 683.6 million and invested EUR 98.5 million in research and development. The number of employees in the Orion Group is approximately 3,300, of which 2,700 persons are working in Finland. Orion corporate headquarters are in Espoo, Finland. For more information, please visit: http://www.orion.fi/english/.
Publisher:
Orion Corporation
Communications
Orionintie 1A, FI-02200 Espoo
Homepage: www.orion.fi