Abbott, a medical device manufacturer based in Abbott Park, Illinois, will lay off 200 workers at its production plant in Ireland. According to a report in The Belfast Telegraph, an Irish newspaper, the job cuts are designed to trim production capacity for the company’s older catheter products.

The job cuts will target “redundant” employees at Abbott’s manufacturing plant in Clonmel. Once the layoffs are complete, an estimated 1,200 workers will remain at the plant.

Jonathon Hamilton, an Abbott spokesman, provided further detail about the layoffs. According to him, the Clonmel production facility manufactures interventional vascular tools, catheters and drug-eluting stents. Most of the job cuts are in the company’s catheter production line for first-generation stents. This includes early versions of the Xience stent line.

Since the Xience drug-eluting stent was launched, it has gone through a series of iterations. Newer versions of the product are manufactured at other production facilities. In response to questions about future layoffs, Hamilton said, “We don’t ever speculate on future cuts.”

In January of this year, Abbott introduced its next-gen version of the Xience drug-eluting stent, dubbed Xpedition. Four months earlier, the company won CE Mark clearance in the European Union for the Xpedition. The device is available in a variety of different sizes and targets a global market.

References

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/200-j...