Wyeth's Premarin woes to close plant
Tuesday October 11, 12:05 pm ET

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/051011/1175852.html?.v=1

Wyeth announced Tuesday it is phasing out manufacturing at its Rouses Point, N.Y., facility because of declining sales for Premarin. Rouses Point is a major manufacturing facility for Premarin, the company's female hormone replacement product.
Sales of Premarin started to plunge last year after a National Institute of Health Study linked long-term use of the therapy to an increased risk for stroke.

Company officials said the Rouses Point plant will discontinue all operations by late 2008. Work force reductions will begin next year and extend over the next three years. The company did not disclose how many employees will be impacted by the decision.

Wyeth (NYSE: WYE - News) is exploring options for selling the site.

Based in Madison, N.J., Wyeth has its pharmaceutical headquarters in Collegeville, Pa.

Published October 11, 2005 by the Philadelphia Business Journal

Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 1:36 AM
Subject: More confirmation of plant closing


http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051012/4069092.asp

Firm closing New York plant

10/12/2005 MADISON, N.J. (Dow Jones/AP) - Wyeth, the maker of pharmaceuticals and health-care products, Tuesday said it will halt operations at its Rouses Point, N.Y., plant because of declining sales of the plant's product, the menopause treatment Premarin.
The plant, which is close to Lake Champlain and the Canadian border, employs 1,200 people.

Madison-based Wyeth said it will phase out manufacturing at the plant and discontinue all operations by late 2008. Staff reductions will begin in 2006 and extend over the next three years. The company plans to seek buyers for the property.

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http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2005/10_2005/101220054.htm

10/12/2005

Plant closing rumored but still a shock
P-R STAFF REPORT
ROUSES POINT -- Local business owners are aware that Wyeth's closing will hurt the economies of Rouses Point and Champlain.

Parker Chevrolet-Olds-Pontiac-Geo President Rolla Parker said people throughout the North Country had been hearing rumblings about Wyeth closing for several years.




"No one wanted to think it could happen," he said. "At first, it's a shock; then it's, what do we do next?"

Parker said the dealership has been planning for the possibility by considering ways to tighten its financial belt since word of layoffs spread about six years ago.

"We've been in a mode of watching what we're spending. We're taking care of our customers, not just with sales but also with service."

Parker said he is more concerned about his customers than his business. Some are couples who both work high-paying jobs at the Rouses Point facility.

"Where are they going to find that kind of job in the North Country?" he said.

The closure will likely lead to a trickle-down effect on businesses throughout the region, he said, such as the mom-and-pop stores where Wyeth employees shop on their way to and from work and the local bank branches that may not need as many tellers.

While the rumblings had been in the air for years, the announcement still came as a surprise.

"I went by on my way to Burlington yesterday. They were putting in new sidewalk and fencing," Parker said. "I thought, it looks like they're putting more money into this place."

About half of the children enrolled in Champlain Children's Learning Center's day-care program on Maple Street in Rouses Point are from Wyeth families, some of which have two parents employed by the firm.

"We're kind of nervous for pickup time," Director Kami Hicks said on Tuesday afternoon. "We don't know what kind of faces we'll see."

The Learning Center, which is funded by grants, donations and through tuition, has already had a taste of what the future may bring. Wyeth phased out its consumer-products line over the past two years, and some departing employees no longer needed the day-care program.

"If we have open day-care slots that are not being filled, we are losing income," Hicks said.

Despite fewer children in the program, she said, the center must still maintain current staffing.

"Really, tuition is what keeps us going."

Certainly, tentative plans for expanding are now on hold, Hicks said.

And it hurts, she added, to think of any of the 90 total youngsters having to leave.

"Children who have been attending the center for their whole lives may be withdrawn," she said.

The effect of the decision on the future of Rouses Point is leaving many worried.

"I don't have a lot of Wyeth business, but it is scary to me," said Sandy Kelley, who owns Ole Tymes Cafe on Lake Street in Rouses Point. "We know it's going to be a domino effect on the whole village."

She's rethinking her participation in the village's downtown-facade-renovation project, for which she'd have to pay 50 percent to spruce up her building.

"What's going to happen with all the taxes?" she said. "The only thing we can hope for is that they find someone to go into that plant."

Joey Trombley, owner of Kavanaugh Reality in Rouses Point, said he was stunned to learn of Wyeth's planned closure.

"Wyeth is a big part of this area," he said, adding that he knows many friends and acquaintances who work there.

Trombley said it is hard to predict how property values would be affected, but he is optimistic that other businesses may come in and offset any downward market trends.

Property value is determined by supply and demand, he said, and they would certainly go down if supply exceeded demand.

But, he added, "hopefully, we don't get to that point."

Trombley said Wyeth's three-year closure plan would help to lessen the impact.

"Prices would be drastically affected if they were closing in three months," he said. "It's good that people don't have to sell immediately."

"It's a real shocker, that's for sure."

Although the news was bad Tuesday, Plattsburgh/North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas said the community can rebound.

"We've done this before, and we know how to proceed," Douglas said.

"We learned a lot from the redevelopment of the base, and we gained a lot of experience in coming together as a team."

Douglas and other community leaders will meet with Wyeth officials today to learn more about the shut-down plans.

He said the property has strong potential for future use.

"They have excellent facilities, it's a strategic location, and there is an excellent, skilled and trained workforce."

Douglas doesn't think the pending Wyeth closure will hurt other community efforts to attract businesses.

"This happens everywhere. It's more and more common these days, so we have to diversify and put ourselves in a position to be in the best place we can be to get things done."

-- Staff Writers Dan Heath, Joe LoTemplio, Suzanne Moore and Casey Ryan Vock contributed to this report.

http://champlainislander.com/index.php?option=com_conte...iew&id=848&Itemid=51

WYETH PHARMACEUTICALS CLOSING IN 2008

The 1,250 employees of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals received shocking news this week that the doors of the pharmaceutical plant will be closing in 2008. This largest employer in Clinton County will be phasing out operations in January 2006, when about 200 jobs will be eliminated. About 275 employers will be terminated in 2007, with the remainder in 2008. Plant Director Robert Vincent outlined to the employees the plans and offered reasons for the plant closure.

Wyeth will be transferring its Premarin operation to a facility in Newbridge, Ireland. The chemical development department and other production lines will go elsewhere. Wyeth's drug-safety facility in Chazy, which employs about 400 workers, will remain open. Efforts will be made to sell the plant in hopes of bringing similar jobs to Rouses Point.

Wyeth, first known as Ayerst, McKenna & Harrison, Ltd, established a manufacturing and distributing site at the old school house in Rouses Point. On April 6, 1934, the original staff of five shipped its first order. In 1943, American Home Products acquired Ayerst, McKenna and Harrison, Ltd. Later that year, six companies are merged into Wyeth Laboratories. The Rouses Point site and the International Chemical Workers Union formed a partnership, in 1945, establishing Local 95C ICWU. The Rouses Point plant adds a 12,000 square foot chemical pilot plant for specialized chemical manufacturing and lab space. In 1969, a $2 million research complex is built in Chazy on land purchased from the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute.

An amalgamation of Wyeth and Ayerst forms Wyeth-Ayerst in 1987. American Home Products changes its name to Wyeth to reflect its role as a global research-driven pharmaceutical company.

New here -

Is there a plan for the horses as the plant "phases out"? Do we know if and how many horses are currently at the Rouses Point facility?

Forgive my ignorance, but I haven't been following the PMU plight diligenty.