Friday, December 01, 2006

Pfizer - will it happen in Europe?

Europe's Big Pharma salesforces are likely to see cuts in the near future, though Pfizer refused to confirm if it would replicate its US reductions in the UK and Europe.

A spokesman for Pfizer UK said: "At the moment, no such plans have been announced for Europe. As Pfizer has made known in the past, globally we are looking to organise all aspects of our operations to most effectively meet the needs of our customers in todays challenging environment."

The spokesman indicated that a fuller statement concerning Europe's salesforces would be made in the near future.

Pfizer announced in mid-October that it planned to undertake a comprehensive review of every aspect of its global operations to make them more efficient.

Last year, Pfizer announced it was making cost cuts of $4 billion over three years in an attempt to return to double-digit earnings growth, but at the time its huge salesforce escaped a predicted cull.

Instead, it found savings across its business, from streamlining procurement, administration and manufacturing, as well as partly re-organising its salesforce and squeezing greater efficiency from its R&D operations.

Analysts expect Pfizer to save $440 million from the move.

More at Pharmafocus

No comments: