Glaxo to Cut Jobs Because of Avandia Problems

Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Glaxo to Cut Jobs As Generics Hit Sales, Profit, by Jeanne Whalen.  Here's an excerpt:

GlaxoSmithKline PLC became the latest drug company to announce layoffs and cost cuts after competition from generic medicines and sharply lower sales of the diabetes drug Avandia hurt third-quarter earnings.

The world's second-largest pharmaceutical company by sales said it would take a £1.5 billion ($3.08 billion) charge as part of cost cuts that it estimates will save the company £700 million a year by 2010. Glaxo Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier said layoffs would be involved, but he declined to say how many.

....

Glaxo, based in Brentford, England, was particularly hard hit by plummeting sales of Avandia, a once-popular diabetes drug now linked by some research to heart-attack risks.

BGS