AstraZeneca will cut 7,300 jobs worldwide as part of global restructuring - 03/02/2012

A restructuring operation by AstraZeneca, the pharmaceuticals giant, will cost the UK economy around 300 jobs reports the BBC.

The GMB Union has said that between 250 and 300 jobs will be lost at the pharmaceutical company’s research and development (R&D) sight in Alderley Park, Cheshire. These redundancies will make up only a fraction of the 7,300 job cuts AstraZeneca will enforce globally, as it carries out its third consecutive restructuring programme.

Despite increased competition and the failure of an experimental ovarian cancer drug in December, AstraZeneca performed well last year, with profits in 2011 hitting $12.37bn, up from $10.97bn in 2010. However the company maintains that its success is a result of similar restructuring operations, which it has been conducting since 2007. “Disciplined execution of our strategy has delivered a good performance in 2011” said chief executive David Brennan.

Stephen Whitehead, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, has warned that in the future there may be lower demand for paid R&D positions across the board. He said “Increasingly there has been externalisation of R&D, collaboration with universities, with research charities, with academia... So that means that you don't necessarily employ people [in R&D positions]."

If these warnings are accurate, we may see many more cuts in R&D positions, as companies seek out cost effective ways of developing new products.

Posted by Miles Pritchard

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