Gov. Jim Justice said his call today with a deeply-rooted pharmaceutical company planning to shut down its Morgantown plant didn’t reverse the decision, but did result in a promise to try to find another operator.
The call came just a few hours after Viatris, formerly Mylan, announced it would shut down its oral solid dose manufacturing facility in West Virginia by mid-summer 2021.
The closure would affect 1,500 jobs.
“I asked if there was anything the state could do,” Justice stated this afternoon, “but the management team told me that there was nothing we could do for them to reverse course.”
The governor said he then asked whether there was anything West Virginia could do with the federal government, along the lines of federal emergency powers, to prevent the closure.
“The management team told me they tried to explore this option themselves, but that they were unsuccessful,” Justice stated.
“With these options exhausted, the Viatris team committed to working with us to find a new operator for the facility to preserve as many of these jobs as possible. As a business guy, I know this is not a commitment to be taken lightly. This task will take a lot of work. So I asked them, specifically, whether they really plan to honor their commitment, and they told me that I had their word that they would do all they could.”
Viatris, broadly addressing its downsizing activities in a statement this morning, indicated that it would cooperate when possible to soften the blow for communities.
“Wherever feasible, Viatris will seek to find potential buyers for its facilities in order to preserve as many jobs as possible and will work with impacted communities to identify appropriate potential alternatives,” the company stated.
The company plans to retain the nearby Collins Ferry research and development lab. “The team at this facility has played a critical role in some of the company’s most important scientific achievements and will continue to do so as Viatris expands its pipeline of complex medicines,” according to the corporate statement.
Viatris also said it would retain some administrative jobs in the Morgantown area.
News about the plant’s shutdown this morning jolted Morgantown, prompting widespread concern about employees, their families, the local economy and community support.
Mylan was co-founded in West Virginia in 1961 by the late Mike Puskar as a small vitamin company that grew into a global generic drug powerhouse.
Mylan just completed a merger Nov. 16 with Pfizer Inc.’s Upjohn unit to form a new company called Viatris. Mylan chief executive Heather Bresch, daughter of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, retired at the closing. Upjohn group’s president, Michael Goettler, assumed the chief executive’s post at Viatris.
At the time, the new company said it was targeting about $1 billion in cost cuts, but hadn’t provided details right away. The combined company has about 45,000 employees.
Viatris in November said it was “currently in the process of defining the specific parameters of the program, including workforce actions and other restructuring activities.”
At the time the company said it would disclose specifics by the end of the year.
Justice, a businessman who first ran for governor in 2016 by saying he could get the chiefs of America’s top businesses on the telephone on behalf of the state, thanked Viatras for taking his call.
Justice described himself as blindsided by the closure announcement.
“On the call, the very first thing I did was express my disappointment that we didn’t know about their plans to close the Morgantown manufacturing facility. We were given no notice that there was even a problem, and nobody came to me to say ‘This is what we need to keep going.’”
Justice promised to commit manpower and resources to preserve jobs. “They mean so much to the community of Morgantown and our state as a whole,” he said.
The West Virginia Manufacturers Association said any loss in West Virginia is devastating and described the likely closure of the Morgantown plant as a crushing blow.
“We are encouraged the new owner of the Mylan plant, Viatris, has pledged to continue operating some of its other West Virginia facilities and preserving those jobs,” the manufacturers association stated.
“The WVMA commits to work with local leaders, the Governor, Department of Commerce and any other stakeholders to bring new manufacturing investment and job opportunities and preserve our existing industrial base here in the Mountain State.”
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Justice: No chance to reverse plant closure; company will try to help find a new operator - West Virginia MetroNews
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