Novartis to cut 1,400 US sales jobs

pharmafile | December 2, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing Novartis, Novartis Pharma North America, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, job cuts, sales representatives 

Novartis has outlined a major restructure of its US field force of sales reps that will see 1,400 positions cut next year.

The company’s US subsidiary said the decision, which will cost $85 million to implement, was taken in order to “reflect changes in the product portfolio and align resources with strategic growth priorities”.

Andy Wyss, head of Novartis Pharma North America and president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC), said: “NPC has a robust pipeline and the future growth potential for our organisation remains strong.

“Proactively evolving our business model will enable us to focus our resources on key launch products and capture opportunities in both primary care and specialty medicines.”

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The cuts will come into force on 1 January and are part of a consolidated effort at the firm to offset looming patent expiries and protect against price erosion policies in both the US and the EU.

Novartis currently faces the patent expiry on its biggest seller Diovan, which made $1.5 billion in the last quarter.

In November, Novartis said it planned to consolidate its recent acquisition of ophthalmology specialist Alcon and continue its ‘de-risking’ strategy by focusing on its generics firm Sandoz.

In the same month, both Roche and Bayer announced major job cuts of just under 5,000 each as they too adjust to a challenging healthcare environment and the sharp end of patent expiries.

Ben Adams

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