Servier in the heart of Orléans (Loiret), it’s almost over. The pharmaceutical group, which in seventy years has become the second-largest French laboratory, will abandon its historic cradle on rue Eugène-Vignat, right next to the Benjamin-Franklin high school.
By 2026, the vast building adjoining the house where Jacques Servier founded the company in 1954 will be closed and probably sold. “We work with the town hall of Orléans”, indicates Olivier Russo, director of the CMC branch (Chemistry, manufacturing and controls) of the group. The municipality, he said, would like to keep part of it in professional premises. The building could also accommodate housing. “We will look for a solution that will satisfy all parties,” he adds.
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This building currently accommodates 190 employees who will join other sites of the group. Some of them will go to work at the new research center in Saclay (Essonne), which is scheduled to open next year. The others will be transferred to Gidy (Loiret), its largest drug manufacturing unit, about fifteen km from Orleans.
Incidentally, Servier will cut 62 positions within its CMC branch, which ensures the technical development of drugs before they are placed on the market.
According to the company, this grouping should facilitate team cohesion and is part of the laboratory’s new research areas, particularly in oncology.
Servier is also continuing to invest in Gidy, where it will open a new building dedicated to biomedicines within 12 to 18 months, and is creating 25 jobs to find the new skills it needs.