Layoffs Hit Westborough Lab
Laboratory Corp. of America, which last year bought Genzyme Genetics, will lay off 169 workers including staff in Westborough, according to an internal communication distributed by the company that was obtained by the Worcester Business Journal.
The Genzyme Genetics division operates at 3400 Computer Dr. in Westborough.
According to a memo dated April 14 that was distributed to employees, the company plans to lay off 23 employees in the IT division and another 146 in the reimbursement department. The cuts will be made in several phases, with the earliest round hitting 12 Genzyme Genetics IT employees on May 20. The final rounds of layoffs will occur in 2012, according to the memo.
The work of the two impacted departments will be, for the most part, absorbed by LabCorp.
"Our reimbursement and IT teams have done everything that we have asked them to do in support of our clients, patients, employees and our business," the letter, signed by Jon L. Hart, senior vice president and general manager of Genzyme Genetics, states. "We will remain committed and focused on providing them support during these transitional periods."
Genzyme Genetics is a laboratory testing division that processes lab samples at nine locations around the country with about 1,700 employees.
Genzyme, the Cambridge-based biotech giant with major operations in Central Massachusetts, sold Genzyme Genetics to LabCorp for $925 million in cash in a deal that closed Dec. 1, 2010. That was before Genzyme was acquired by French biotech company Sanofi Aventis earlier this year.
LabCorp is a North Carolina-based medical diagnostics company that made a $558-million profit on $2 billion in sales last year.
Kemp Dolliver, managing director at Avondale Partners and an analyst who tracks LabCorp, said he wasn't surprised to hear about cutbacks at Genzyme Genetics.
"I don't think anybody in our world would be surprised given Genzyme Genetics' below average level of profitability," he said.
Dolliver added that Genzyme Genetics was "barely making money" when it was purchased, which meant that LabCorp had to consider reductions in staff in order to make the business more efficient.
LabCorp and Genzyme Genetics officials did not return repeated emails and phone calls requesting comment.
Staff Writer Christina H. Davis also contributed to this report.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments