Pfizer takeover of King includes Cary office

Pfizer will gain another Triangle operation when it buys King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion.

The deal announced today is Pfizer's largest since it bought rival Wyeth for $68 billion in 2009. That acquisition included Wyeth's vaccine plant in Sanford, where Pfizer plans to cut 400 workers over the next five years.

King has a research office in Cary. The Bristol, Tenn.-based company, which employs about 2,600 people worldwide, doesn't disclose employee totals at its regional offices, said spokesman Jack Howarth. He also declined to comment on what type of research is done at the Cary offices.

The company's products include pain drugs, including painkillers designed to be resistant to abuse, and EpiPen, a pre-filled injection to treat allergic reactions.

The deal is the latest takeover in a series of deals that's consolidating the pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer and other large drug makers are looking for smaller companies with promising new products.

Pfizer expects to cut $200 million in costs from King within three years, but officials would not say how many jobs will be eliminated once the deal closes in the first quarter of next year.

Pfizer is in the process of cutting 20,000 jobs in the wake of the Wyeth deal, including at the Sanford plant.

The company also plans to eliminate research operations in Sanford and Morrisville that employ about 170 people.