A company spokesman said Tuesday that this move does not mean any more immediate changes for the Merck manufacturing facility in West Point, Montgomery County.
"This announcement is not a restructuring in terms of job cuts," Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said. "We do have an ongoing effort to consolidate our global real estate footprint."
The move probably won't start until 2014 and will be completed in mid-2015, the company said in a statement. About 2,000 employees and contractors currently at the Whitehouse Station, Hunterdon County, headquarters will move to the facilities in Summit, Union County, or to nearby facilities such as those in Branchburg, Somerset County, and Cokesbury, Hunterdon County.
Merck's headquarters have been in Whitehouse Station since 1992, after being in Rahway. Merck got the Summit facility when it bought Schering-Plough in 2009.
"The relocation of our headquarters will help us achieve our future vision, reduce the size of our operating footprint, and increase agility as we adapt to our changing business environment," said Kenneth C. Frazier, a Philadelphia native and Pennsylvania State University graduate who is chairman and chief executive officer of Merck.
Contact staff writer David Sell at dsell@ phillynews.com or 215-854-4506. Read his blog at www.philly.com/phillypharma and on Twitter @phillypharma.
