As a result of cost structure adjustments and improvements in efficiency and productivity, pharmaceutical comnpany Roche is planning to reduce its workforce by 4,800 positions worldwide, or about 6% of the Groups current workforce of approximately 82,000 employees, the company said on Nov. 17.
The company said that most of the planned job reductions will occur in the Pharmaceuticals Division, particularly in the divisions global sales and marketing organization and in manufacturing. The sales and marketing position reduction is due to the " previously announced setback of the diabetes medicine taspoglutide and structural adjustments in the primary care sales organizations mainly in the U.S. and Europe."
To further improve capacity utilization within the global manufacturing network, some Technical Operations activities will be reorganized in California, U.S., in Mannheim, Germany and various other sites across the network, the company said. In addition, Roche intends to seek buyers for its sites in Florence, South Carolina and Boulder, Colorado.
The company will also discontinue certain activities in research and early development. These include RNA interference research in Kulmbach, Germany, and in Nutley, New Jersey, and Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, plans also include reorganizing certain internal functions to free up resources for upcoming phase II studies of new molecular entities, the company said.
