Drugmaker Merck Closing 8 Plants, 8 Research Sites

Drugmaker Merck is shutting down eight manufacturing plants and eight research sites around the world.

AP

The company says it's also consolidating some offices.

The moves are part of ongoing consolidation following Merck's acquisitionof Schering-Plough last November.

That deal made Merck the world's second-biggest drugmaker but the company said it would eliminate about 15 percent of the combined work force, or roughly 16,000 jobs.

Those cuts are intended to save the Whitehouse Station, N.J., company about $3.5 billion a year.