Job cuts at GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca
pharmafile | February 2, 2010 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline
Britain’s two biggest pharma companies GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca are poised to make deep job cuts as business models continue to evolve to cope with challenging market conditions.
AZ will undertake a four-year restructure of its R&D departments that will see approximately 1,800 positions removed as it reduces the number of disease area targets it will concentrate on.
The company will also continue to focus on outsourcing development work and plans to consolidate some of its R&D activities onto a smaller site.
The efficiency drive will impact a further 10,400 positions in the supply chain and ‘selling, general and administrative’ functions.
Between 2007 and 2009, AZ reduced 12,600 positions at a cost of $2.5 billion.
The total cost of this new round of restructuring is estimated at $2 billion over five years, but AZ is optimistic that this will be offset by greater productivity and lower staff costs.
Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline is planning to make 3,000 job cuts in certain disease areas as it continues its diversification business model, according to the Financial Times.
Chief executive Andrew Witty has based GSK’s new model on moving away from a sole focus on patented medicines and looking also to emerging markets and consumer healthcare.
The last round of GSK cuts, which saw 6,000 jobs axed, was made as part of the company’s 2008 annual results announcement last February, and the FT says the new cuts will be made public when GSK unveils its 2009 full year results on Thursday.
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