MedNous

AstraZeneca to eliminate 7,300 jobs

Thursday 2 February 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Citing the need to make further productivity gains, AstraZeneca Plc has announced plans to eliminate 7,300 jobs by the end of 2014 or about 12% of its 60,000-strong workforce. Of this number, 2,200 positions will be taken from research and development. This is the third company-wide restructuring programme since 2007 which altogether will see the loss of 28,900 jobs and yield annual savings estimated at $5.9 billion by the end of 2014.

Speaking to journalists on 2 February 2012, David Brennan, the chief executive, said that the single biggest issue facing the pharmaceutical industry today is a decline in R&D productivity. To address this head on, the company will aggressively cut back internal R&D posts and make its neuroscience division ‘virtual.’ Mr Brennan