Mendota Heights med tech to cut 124 jobs

Pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec’s former Mendota Heights location is expected to close and 124 of its employees will be laid off following the company’s acquisition by North American Science Associates, according to a Monday notice to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

North American Science Associates, or NAMSA, will move services from 2540 Executive Drive in Mendota Heights to the company’s existing facility at 8945 Evergreen Blvd. NW in Minneapolis over the next several months, wrote Human Resources Director Amy Kincaid to DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek. NAMSA is a medical device contract research company.

As part of that transition, the Mendota Heights site will undergo a phased workforce reduction over the next several months with 39 employees to be laid off starting Monday.

Phases of the layoff will continue through October with the eventual closure of the site. An estimated 17 employees from the site’s approximately 141 current employees will be transferred to the Minneapolis location.

Affected employees are not represented by a union and there are no applicable bumping rights, according to the letter.

NAMSA has decided to provide pay in place of the 60-day notice required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and state statute, according to the letter.

NAMSA, which is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, and has locations in Europe and Asia, acquired WuXi AppTec’s U.S. medical device testing operations in late February, according to its website.

It also acquired another Mendota Heights WuXi AppTec location at 2520 Pilot Knob Road.

WuXi AppTec is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

— Imani Cruzen

Market sell-off hits cryptocurrency too

After holding relatively stable during last week’s global market turmoil, cryptocurrencies have joined the sell-off.

Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency dipped below $75,000 Monday before seeing a slight rebound.

Bitcoin’s prices haven’t been this low since just after President Donald Trump’s Election Day victory last year launched a bull run in crypto prices. Trump, whose tariff announcements led to massive stock selloffs, has been a major promoter of the crypto industry and previously took credit when bitcoin’s price broke $100,000 in December. Bitcoin has been on a relatively steady slide in price since Trump took office earlier this year.

Other major digital assets saw even bigger one-day percentage drops on Monday morning.

Copper prices trending lower on slowdown fear

Fears that trade tensions will cause a global recession are weighing on a closely watched economic barometer: the price of copper.

Copper prices surged this year and reached a high after President Donald Trump said his administration was investigating whether tariffs might be necessary to reduce the United States’ reliance on copper imports..

Then last week, Trump imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries, terrifying many investors and business executives because of the tariffs’ potential to sharply slow the economy and perhaps even cause a recession. As a result, copper prices plunged and are now down nearly 20% from last month’s high.

— From news services