AstraZeneca to eliminate 7,300 jobs by 2014

[longnecker]

AstraZeneca announced more job cuts on Thursday, amid a backdrop of higher profits but increasing questions of where tomorrow's business will come from.

The company reported it would eliminate 7,300 jobs globally by 2014, in an effort to scale back spending as drug sales erode. The job cuts are intended to save the company $1.6 billion a year by that time.
"We believe the external environment demands of us that we find alternative ways to deliver our brands to the marketplace with a high degree of quality, but at a more effective cost base," said Tony Zook, executive vice president of AstraZeneca's global commercial group, in a company video.
The tally of planned cuts includes the 1,150 sales jobs announced in December, largely outside Delaware, as well as the 400 layoffs announced in October, which were largely centered in Delaware.
The company made no projection as to the impact of the new cuts in Delaware, although its spokesman, Tony Jewell, said it would be smaller than the October cut. The company has about 3,000 employees in Wilmington and Newark, down from 5,000 several years ago.
"Over time, the number of positions in Delaware will vary depending on the needs and the shape of the business," Jewell said.
The layoff news came as the company announced higher profits for 2011, including a strong performance from top brands like Crestor, a cholesterol fighter. The firm reported a 2011 profit of $10 billion, up from $8.1 billion in 2010.
But that upbeat news was tempered by a forecast of tough times to come, as the drugmaker braces to lose exclusive patent rights to its depression drug, Seroquel, the ulcer treatment Nexium, and Atacand, a hypertension drug, as well as increased government price intervention and competition from generics.
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[max1]

Suckage......

[EpicWin]

Suckage......

Only if you work for the devil, I meant AstraZeneca.