Nutley closing

ZURICH, June 26 | Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:29pm EDT

(Reuters) - Roche said it plans to cut 1,000 jobs by closing a Nutley, NJ-based plant, an attempt to clamp down on its drug development costs.

"The overall number of programs in clinical development has grown substantially," Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The planned consolidation of our research and early development organization and the refocusing of research and development activities in Switzerland and Germany will free up resources that we can invest in these promising clinical programs while also increasing our overall efficiency," he said.

The move allows Roche to keep its research and drug development costs largely unchanged, despite an increase in clinical research projects in the last 18 months, Schwan said. Roche backed its 2012 financial outlook.

In tandem with the move, Roche said Jean-Jacques Garaud, its head of pharma research, will leave the company at the end of this week. He will be replaced by Mike Burgess, head of cancer drugs. (Reporting By Katharina Bart)

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