GSK plans research job losses in UK
pharmafile | October 3, 2008 | News story | Research and Development | GSK, restructure
GlaxoSmithKline is set to cut about 850 jobs in early-stage research and development at sites across the world, including the UK.
The company is now in consultation with R&D employees in the US and UK, a process which could last for another 90 days.
The proposed job losses are part of a major reorganisation across the company's business units announced last year, which aims to save £700 million a year. It is understood that total worldwide job losses at GSK will number more than 2,000.
The cuts are part of a major strategic change of direction in its R&D, with far greater reliance on external collaborations. GSK is now aiming to generate a much larger proportion of clinical development candidates from external collaborations.
"Part of our R&D strategy is to work with partners to produce about half of our R&D pipeline from external sources," a spokesman for the company confirmed.
The cuts will be in the areas of pre-clinical development and molecular discovery research, including its base in Harlow, Essex, which specialises in the field of psychiatry.
GSK is the biggest pharmaceutical industry employer in the UK and the number of jobs expected to be lost is around 350. These redundancies would represent around 2% of worldwide R&D staff at the company.
The spokesman added: "We continue to reshape our R&D operations to take advantage of new scientific opportunities and improve GSK's productivity. Regrettably, some job reductions are necessary and we will do everything we can to support those employees who are affected.
"These changes are part of GSK's longer-term strategy to ensure that we invest in key areas of future growth and evolve our business to compete effectively in what is a rapidly changing and challenging environment for pharmaceutical companies."
AstraZeneca has announced similar plans, and has plans to cut thousands of jobs in the UK, representing 15% of its global workforce of around 66,000.
Like its competitors in big pharma, GSK has spent billions over in the last two years on buying development and marketing rights from biotech companies or, increasingly, buying them outright.
Most recently, GSK signed a deal with Cellzome to give it access to the cutting-edge company's expertise in molecular biology and kinase-targeted therapeutics to treat inflammatory diseases.
Cellzome's UK and Germany centres of expertise in pre-clinical research are just the sort of external partners that GSK will now rely on to generate more drug candidates more cost-effectively than its existing in-house organisation.
GSK has separately announced plans to close its R&D site in Greenford, Middlesex. These plans do not entail any job losses, however, but the closure will save the company money by transferring employees to the nearby Stockley Park site.
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