Sonic Health

The sciences industry has been the victim of a global downturn in the sector has had to slash jobs in Quebec.

Quebec’s life sciences industry has fallen victim to a global decline in the sector despite hundreds of millions of dollars in government assistance.

This week, two global industry giants, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ-N65.13-0.07-0.11%) and Sanofi, announced layoffs of 126 and 100 people, respectively, at their Canadian operations as part of global streamlining efforts. J&J’s job cuts, announced Tuesday, came at the research and development centre connected to its plant in Montreal’s East End that makes feminine hygiene products. Sanofi, which employs 1,700 people across Canada, said Wednesday that most of its cuts would affects its Montreal operations.

The job cuts are a double blow to the Quebec industry, which has shed thousands of research and development and manufacturing jobs in recent years, including 180 positions when Merck & Co. Inc. closed its world-renowned research and development facility on Montreal’s West Island in 2010. According to Statistics Canada, pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing jobs in the province declined by 28 per cent from the end of 2006 through last October, from 10,422 jobs to 7,549.

The latest losses come amid consolidation and cost cutting around the globe as the industry responds to the combined pressures of economic downturn, expiring patents and fewer blockbuster drug introductions, by shedding workers and closing… continue reading

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