Orion - Company Announcement

Orion's statutory negotiations completed. Personnel to be reduced by about 205 in Finland

The statutory negotiations which were initiated in Orion Corporation
with personnel representatives in November 2008 with emphasis on
changes in the operational model and structure of pharmaceutical
research and development, have been completed. In result, a decision
has been made to reduce the company's personnel in Finland by
altogether about 205 persons, of which about 175 will be given a
notice and about 30 positions will be terminated through retirement
and other arrangements. According to the original estimate, the
negotiations could have led to cutting up to 300 jobs. In its
financial period Q4/2008, Orion will book a non-recurring charge of
preliminarily about EUR 3.9 million relating to the structural
rearrangements.

The number of employees at Orion's Espoo site will be reduced via a
notice by about 105 persons, in Turku by about 55 and in Kuopio by
about 15 persons. The reductions will be implemented mainly in the
course of the first half of 2009.

The non-recurring charge of about EUR 3.9 million will be booked in
Q4/2008 relating to costs of personnel and other expenses caused by
the rearrangements. A more exact figure will be proved in the
company's financial statements for 2008, which will be published on 6
February 2009. This charge does not, however, give reason to revisit
the latest financial full-year outlook estimate for 2008 provided in
the Interim Report 1-9/2008, according to which the operating profit,
excluding non-recurring items, is estimated to grow slightly from
2007. Such non-recurring items include the one-off compensation of
EUR 6 million for the termination of the Calcimagon licence agreement
in 2007, the patent litigation expenses which for 1-9/2008 were EUR
4.4 million, and the about EUR 3.9 million for the rearrangements in
R&D.

By introducing a more flexible operational model and cost structure
for its pharmaceutical R&D Orion prepares for ensuring its
prerequisites of doing business as well as its competitiveness even
in the early part of the next decade, after the expiry of the basic
patents protecting its most important products.  The company will
increase early-phase R&D collaboration with universities and other
pharmaceutical companies, and, on the other hand, will share costs
with other operators in clinical research phases. This is how Orion
will make it possible to increase the volume of research projects and
strengthen its strategic capability to be a company offering new
medicinal treatments even in the future, with continued engagement in
pharmaceutical research and development.


Orion Corporation


Timo Lappalainen             Olli Huotari
President and CEO          SVP, Corporate Functions


Contact persons:
Timo Lappalainen, President and CEO, phone + 358 10 426 3692
(available as of about 11.00 am)
Kirsi Nurmela, VP, Human Resources, phone +358 10 426 4343
Analysts: Jari Karlson, CFO, phone +358 10 426 2883



ABOUT ORION
Orion is dedicated to treating and preventing disease by discovery
and developing innovative medicinal treatments. In 2007, Orion
generated net sales of EUR 683.6 million and invested EUR 98.5
million in research and development. In the end of 2008, the number
of employees in the Orion Group was approximately 3,300, of which
2,700 persons were working in Finland. Orion corporate headquarters
are in Espoo, Finland.  For more information, please visit
http://www.orion.fi/english/. The financial statements of the Orion
Group for 2008 will be published on 6 February 2009.




Publisher:
Orion Corporation
Communications
Orionintie 1A, FI-02200 Espoo
Homepage: www.orion.fi