308 Madison Allergan Workers Facing Layoffs

MADISON, NJ — Pharmaceutical company Allergan is planning on laying off up to 308 employees at its Madison location this March, the New Jersey Department of Labor said.

In a WARN (The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) notice posted this week, the state department said up to 308 employees could be out of work as of March 16.

Allergan said the layoffs come after the company lost exclusive rights for certain products. Drug patents are generally good for 20 years after the invention of a drug.

"As part of a previously announced internal restructuring plan related to the loss of exclusivity for certain products, Allergan intends to eliminate approximately 1,000 currently filled positions globally. These reductions impact employees in commercial and other functions, primarily focused on products and categories subject to loss of exclusivity," a spokesperson told Patch.

In New Jersey, employees in sales, commercial, research and development, and corporate functions will be affected.

The layoffs come 15 months after Allergan announced they were consolidating their Parsippany, Bridgewater and Jersey City locations into a central Madison campus at Giralda Farms, as nj.com reported in 2016. At the time, the company said they would add 300 new jobs, a move virtually erased by the pending layoffs.

Allergan is best known for manufacturing Botox.

AP Photo/Richard Drew, File