Orshe

The feds greenlighted the Pfizer-Wyeth deal yesterday, and the transaction is likely to be wrapped up today. Next question: Where will the synergy axe fall?

Pfizer has said it would cut about 15% of the companies’ combined workforce. That’s just under 20,000 jobs.

That figure includes roughly 8,000 jobs that Pfizer pledged in January to eliminate; the company said the cuts would “span sales, manufacturing, research and development, and administrative organizations.”

Those cuts within Pfizer have already begun, a Pfizer spokesman told the Health Blog yesterday. But the full picture of who will be hit with post-merger layoffs remains unclear.

Connecticut newspaper The Day, which covers the part of the state where Pfizer has its R&D headquarters, reports this morning that it’s too early to say whether any particular Connecticut operations will be closed.

The Times Herald, a Pennylvania paper, cites a letter Wyeth CEO Bernard Poussot sent out yesterday regarding the future of a couple of Wyeth’s facilities. According to the article, the letter said:

After considerable discussion during the past several months Pfizer has determined that Wyeth’s two headquarters facilities – Corporate headquarters in Madison, N.J. and Pharmaceutical headquarters in Collegeville, Pa. – will become key elements of Pfizer’s future presence.

Photo: iStockphoto

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Pfizer-Wyeth Deal Wraps Up; Layoffs to Follow