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Big Pharma's Year of Big Layoffs

It has been quite a year for pharmaceutical restructuring. But where are the cuts coming from? Here's a snapshot of the 40,000 or so layoffs from the industry's big players.

When it comes to pharmaceutical restructuring, the talk in past years has mostly centered on Big Pharma’s sales force arms races, and whether or not companies like Pfizer Inc. would reduce headcount in their massive sales and marketing divisions. Going back to one day in April 2005, when Pfizer announced a plan to save $4 billion, such a move seemed inevitable. (See "Pfizer’s Analyst Day: And Now, for Its Next Trick," IN VIVO, April 2005 Also see "Pfizer's Analyst Day: And Now, For Its Next Trick" - In Vivo, 1 April, 2005..) But despite recent expected sales force cuts at Pfizer and also at AstraZeneca PLC, the industry’s collective axe has cut a broader swathe of personnel: sales, marketing, R&D, and manufacturing have all felt the pain.

Since January 2007, when Eli Lilly & Co. announced it had completed its $2.2 billion acquisition of tadalafil (Cialis) partner Icos Corp. and handed out pink slips to most...

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