Valeant has cut 39 jobs at its pharmaceuticals plant in Steinbach.

Tony Martinez is the General Manager.  He explains, "In an effort for us to remain competitive in the market, we have elected to try to reduce our cost of goods and, in doing so, it was necessary to take some reductions in personnel and reduction in expenses. It resulted in a total of 15 involuntary separations and we had 24 volunteers who elected to take a severance payout. Collectively that was 39 individuals who have been impacted."

Martinez says the pharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly competitive as governments in Canada and the U.S. put pressure on drug makers to reduce prices. "The business that we're in continues to face cost constraints. In health care, both in Canada and the U.S., where the majority of our product is sold, there continues to be pressure on the industry to reduce costs. Governments who pay for the products that are manufactured are looking for product to be less expensive because it is covered by taxpayers. Therefore it puts pressure on us to try to reduce the costs where we can to try to offer our medications at the most competitive prices."

He notes the Valeant plant in Steinbach still has well over 400 employees despite the cut of 5 to 10 per cent of the workforce. Martinez adds, "In an effort to remain the most competitive we can, we do have to look at every piece of our business to try to drive those costs to a more economical level."