Medicis HQ to move to N.J.

Owner Valeant mum on number of Ariz. positions that will be lost

The Montreal-based pharmaceutical company that acquired Medicis Pharmaceutical last year said it plans to move the local company’s headquarters to New Jersey.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International would not say how many jobs will move out of Arizona when it relocates Medicis’ headquarters from the Salt River Reservation just east of Loop 101. But Valeant has no plans to keep workers in the local headquarters building after the relocation.

Valeant laid off more than 300 Medicis employees in December when it closed its $2.6 billion purchase of Medicis, which sells the Solodyn acne drug and Restylane skin filler. Valeant told the Arizona Department of Economic Security in a filing in December that it intended to eliminate 440 Medicis jobs.

A Valeant spokeswoman said Tuesday that she does not know how many Medicis employees are currently in Arizona, but she said Valeant is relocating most of its U.S. workforce to New Jersey.

“Valeant had been intending to move out of the (Arizona) building for some time as it is larger than we require,” Valeant spokeswoman Laurie Little said in an e-mail. “That building was much too large for our current operation. I think it is safe to say at some point, there will be no one from Medicis in that building.”

Medicis leases a 150,000square-foot building in Scotts- dale, but Valeant will search for another tenant to sublease the space. Medicis moved into the headquarters building in 2008 on a 12-year lease that costs the company about $3.9 million in annual payments, according to Medicis filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The top executive of Valeant revealed the consolidation plans in a letter sent Monday to employees of Valeant and Bausch & Lomb, which Valeant is also buying. Valeant CEO Michael Pearson told employees that when the Bausch

& Lomb deal closes, the company will eliminate between 10 percent and 15 percent of positions companywide.

The Canadian drugmaker will maintain its Quebec headquarters, but it will move Bausch & Lomb’s Rochester, N.Y., headquarters to New Jersey. Valeant, Bausch & Lomb and Medicis will be combined into a single unit.

Scottsdale economic-development officials said that Valeant has not informed them of the company’s plans for the Medicis headquarters.

Scottsdale Economic Development Director Danielle Casey said the city is always concerned about job losses among major employers, but she said that Scottsdale projects significant employment growth with strong demand for the area’s workers.

“We feel very optimistic about the prospects for these workers should Valeant choose to transition activity to New Jersey,” Casey said via e-mail.