Wall Street analysts expect Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) to announce it will cut its work force by 10%, or 4,300 jobs, and potentially close up to half of its manufacturing plants, at its Dec. 5 investor meeting.

Sepracor will eliminate 300 sales force positions as part of a cost cutting plan to reduce expenses by $90 million-$100 million for 2008.

GlaxoSmithKline is eliminating around 1,000 sales positions as part of a plan to save $1.4 billion by 2010 through job and plant cuts.

King Pharmaceuticals will cut 20% of its 2,600 employee workforce after a federal appeals court judge ruled against a patent extension on the company's blood pressure treatment Altace.

Novartis today said it plans to eliminate 1,260 jobs from its US sales and marketing unit and replace its head of pharmaceuticals after announcing poor third-quarter earnings results.

Amgen said on Monday that 2,200 employees would lose their jobs under a company restructuring that includes about 675 layoffs at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, CA, The Ventura County Star reported.

With reimbursement limits the latest threat to its anemia franchise, Amgen moved to shore up investor confidence yesterday.

Amgen announced yesterday that it would reduce company staff by up to 14% due to lower Aranesp sales.

Johnson Johnson unit Alza plans to eliminate close to 600 jobs in research and development and support by the end of 2007, The Silicon Valley-San Jose Business Journal reports.

Sanofi-Aventis has the flexibility to further reduce its sales force, the drugmakers head of pharmaceuticals Hanspeter Spek said during a post-results conference call on Wednesday.