Novartis to eliminate 2,000 jobs, close two sites in Europe

Novartis, Europe's second-largest pharmaceutical company, today said that it will eliminate 2,000 jobs in the US and Switzerland, add jobs in India and China, and close two sites in Europe, as part of its additional cost reduction plan over the next three to five years.

Novartis will eliminate 1,100 jobs in Switzerland, with the balance in the US. The cuts will be made in technical research and development, data management, clinical trial monitoring, drug safety and regulatory affairs.

It will add 700 jobs in China and India in data management and trial monitoring. The job cut, which is 1 per cent of the Swiss drug giant's workforce of around 120,000, will generate annual savings of more than $200 million, the company said in a statement today.

"These actions are necessary to ensure that we adapt our organisation to continue delivering on our mission of bringing innovative new drugs to patients," Joe Jimenez, CEO of Novartis said in a statement.

The Basel, Switzerland-based company also said that as part of its cost reduction plan, it will reallocate production within the Novartis network resulting in closure of two sites in Switzerland and one in Italy, restructuring the development organisation largely in Switzerland and the US, and relocating some research activities from Switzerland to the US.

The company said that it will book a turnaround charge of about $300 million in the fourth quarter.

The announcement comes as Novartis reports higher net income of $2.48 billion, compared with $2.32 billion in the same quarter last year.