Novartis is reshuffling its cards in Switzerland. To cover new drug launches, both
branded and generic, the company is cutting 500 jobs in its pharma division and
hiring up elsewhere. It's the latest job-trimming move at the Swiss drugmaker,
which has shed thousands of jobs over the last several years.
Mindful of the political environment in Switzerland, where recent job cuts
have triggered street protests and sit-ins, Novartis was careful to explain
that any jobs lost in its home country will be made up with new hires. While
it's cutting support jobs at headquarters and more in R&D, Novartis plans
to add several hundred employees in over-the-counter manufacturing, generics
supply chain management, and cancer drug development.
"This is not a traditional restructuring with the primary goal of cost
savings and staff reductions," said Thomas Boesch, Novartis HR chief in
Switzerland. "The point is to optimally focus our resources."
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Of course, Novartis is in the midst of a strategic review, which could
result in much bigger changes--the sale of its vaccines and animal health
divisions, for instance. In the meantime, Novartis is launching a $5 billion
stock buy-back program and plans to set up new business segments to focus on
dermatology, heart failure, respiratory disease and cell therapy. Not
coincidentally, those new segments will see new hiring.
Some of the new Swiss jobs will rev up its Sandoz generics unit to launch at least one new product, possibly the lung drug
AirFluSal Forspiro, a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's ($GSK) Advair recently approved in several European countries. Novartis' pharma division
will get additional staffers to help roll out new branded products for
respiratory ailments, lung cancer, skin disease and heart disease, the company
said. Among its branded drugs awaiting regulatory approval are serelaxin, a
treatment for heart failure, and secukinumab, a psoriasis therapy.
Meanwhile, its over-the-counter manufacturing will also benefit, the company
said. Novartis has already been moving some consumer drug production to
Fribourg, Switzerland, from its troubled plant in Lincoln, NE.
The net effect, says Novartis: Employment in Switzerland will remain at
around 15,000. The company will try to minimize actual layoffs, possibly
through early retirements and attrition. Those who lose their jobs will
participate in "a generous social plan including severance payments."
In early November, Novartis said it would cut up to 371 R&D jobs in the
U.K., plus as many as 72 in sales and marketing there. And in 2012, Novartis
announced 2,000 job cuts in the U.S., most of them in sales, as it prepared for
generic competition for its blood pressure blockbuster Diovan.
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