SOLANO - Roche, the parent company of Genentech, has announced it is cutting 4,800 positions worldwide, 100 of which are in Solano County.
That is 6 percent of the current workforce and implementation will happen over two years.
‘This is a comprehensive, focused initiative to reinforce Roche’s long-term innovation capability in the face of increased price pressures and a more challenging market environment," said Roche Group chief executive officer Severin Schwan. "We will continue to drive our highly promising product pipeline to help seriously ill patients and contribute to more efficient healthcare systems."
Genentech was acquired by Roche Holdings in March of 2009. The company already had the majority of shares in Genentech and paid $46 billion for the remaining shares.
Michael Ammann, president of the Solano Economic Development Corporation, said that after a year or so after a large acquisition companies identify where there is duplication and cut jobs.
"As the English call it, there was a redundancy," he said. "For the third quarter, they were down 7 percent on a global basis. This has nothing to do with Vacaville or Solano or the ability for us to scale up in bio-tech. Over time I think they will come back and reinvest for the capabilities here for cancer research are high."
Caroline Pecquet, a spokeswoman for Genentech, said there were no layoffs or terminiations as of yet.
"We intend to notify those employees in the first quarter of 2011 and at that time they will get information about timing," she said.
The Vacaville facility currently employs roughly 850 people and manufactures Avastin, Rituxan and Herceptin, which are oncology drugs.
"Vacaville will continue to be a part of the manufacturing network," Ms. Pecquet said.
