The Lyon pharmaceutical giant Boiron confirmed the fears of its unions on Wednesday: the laboratory announced more than 600 job cuts in France, about a quarter of its workforce in the country, putting this decision on the account of the reimbursement of homeopathy decided by the government.
In total, 13 of the 31 sites will be closed, including the Montrichard factory (Loir-et-Cher), one of its three production sites in the territory, which represents a total of 646 job cuts.
This plan, which will only concern the French part of the group's 3,700 or so employees worldwide, is necessary to "perpetuate the company and secure its future and that of the employees who remain," said the laboratory.
The closure of thirteen sites in France
"In this project, there are the creation of 134 positions and also a new organization of our commercial teams to be able to adapt to this new situation," he said, adding that the international subsidiaries are not not affected by "this reorganization plan".
In detail, in addition to the Montrichard factory, twelve preparation-distribution sites will be closed, in Avignon, Belfort, Brest, Grenoble, Limoges, Niort, Paris-Bois d'Arcy, Paris-Ivry, Pau, Rouen, Strasbourg and Toulon.
The Lyon laboratory, the world leader in the sector, has highlighted the role that, according to him, the decision to defund homeopathy made by the French government plays, when the Hexagon represents almost 60% of its sales. Since January 1, homeopathy, which was reimbursed at 65% before falling to 30%, is only 15% reimbursed. This rate will drop to zero in 2021.
"Very virulent destabilization campaign"
There has been "a very virulent destabilization campaign for two years," said the company, saying it continued to "do everything to obtain a moratorium and the maintenance of a reimbursement". The group, which is due to publish its annual financial results on the evening of Wednesday, has confirmed that it expects its profitability to drop in 2019.
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Its annual sales last year, already published, are down almost 8% to 557 million euros, even though the reimbursement had not yet taken place.
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