Merck To Shut Down Montgomery County Research Facility, Cut 360 Jobs

Merck is closing one of its research facilities in North Wales and cutting jobs at two of its other sites, the pharmaceutical company announced Tuesday.

The job cuts make up "less than 10 percent" of the company's discovery, pre-clinical and early development group of roughly 3,600 employees, Merck spokeswoman Lainie Keller told Patch. That 360 also includes some employees who will be moved to other sites, she said.

The company's local branch is on 351 North Sumneytown Pike in North Wales.

In addition to the local closure, Merck will cut lab research jobs at its lab sites in Rahway, New Jersey, and Kenilworth, New Jersey. Merck is headquartered in Rahway.

The operations at the North Wales site, which screens compounds for drug development, will be transferred to Kenilworth, Science Magazine reports.

The move comes as Merck is shifting from its long-established research facilities in industrial areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania to newer hubs of emerging biomedical research near Boston and San Francisco.

Merck "is increasing our investment in exploratory biology in areas where biomedical research is converging, specifically in Cambridge, Massachusetts (home to Harvard University, where Merck has facilities) and the San Francisco Bay area," Keller told Philly.com. "Unfortunately, these changes will result in workforce reductions" at the company's North Wales drug-screening facility and the New Jersey sites "as we shift resources and personnel."

Merck employs about 12,500 people at its North Wales site, Philly.com reports.