Novartis to trim 2,500 jobs by 2010
From Times Wire Services
Novartis said it would cut 2,500 jobs worldwide by 2010, the latest major pharmaceutical company to make sizable cutbacks as industry costs rise, more patents expire and researchers continue to chase the next blockbuster drug.
The company offered a downbeat outlook for its U.S. pharmaceutical business in the first quarter, citing generic competition for four drugs and lost sales from a discontinued product.
Novartis said it would take a restructuring charge of about $450 million in the fourth quarter. It had already announced in October that it would slash 1,260 U.S. marketing and sales jobs.
