Novartis on Thursday said it was cutting 2,500 jobs, joining Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and others in the pharmaceutical industry in shedding workers as patent expirations, price pressures and copycat competition hit profits.
Novartis, the Basel, Switzerland-based drugmaker, said the cutting of 2.5% of its total workforce will help it simplify organizational structures, accelerate and decentralize decision making and provide productivity gains.
It's expecting $1.6 billion a year to be saved before tax by 2010, and will take a $450 million charge in the fourth quarter on the costs of the job cuts.
Novartis said its plan - dubbed Forward - is designed to help it capture opportunities, particularly in emerging markets. The job cut plan is in addition to a program announced in October to cut 1,200 U.S. marketing and sales jobs.
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