While the cuts have been known for months, Pfizer has started to announce specifics regarding how they will integrate with Wyeth’s organization. The company expects to trim 15% off its global workforce to streamline the organization and help pay for the merger.

Yesterday, the company announced that it will move employees from facilities in Collegeville (PA), Pearl River (NY), and St. Louis to other locations. More significantly, the new company will cease operations at Princeton, two facilities in the UK, three facilities in New York, and two facilities in North Carolina. Finally, the R&D teams in New London, CT will be shifted to Groton.

It seems the overall plan is to build strategic R&D centers of excellence around the world (a la Novartis). While Pfizer will maintain more than a dozen R&D locations, most of its R&D employees will operate at Cambridge (MA), Groton (CT), La Jolla (CA), Pearl River (NY) and Sandwich (UK). The reaction from employees has been muted as news has been slow to filter down from the new corporate leadership.

No one claimed that merging two life sciences behemoths would be easy. Here’s proof that the job is just as challenging as advertised.