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Astellas shutters OSI and Perseid, lets 200 US staff go in R&D reorg

May 14, 2013

It was a particularly grim Monday for 200 Astellas employees in the US, who were informed that they were being let go and it was their last day with the company.
 

AstraZeneca consolidates R&D, moves US commercial roles

March 18, 2013

AstraZeneca is cutting 650 jobs in the US, "primarily in R&D," and consolidating its R&D operations at three "strategic R&D centers" in "bioscience clusters," academic and industrial beehives where the company can tap into concentrations of talent and infrastructure.
 

Company news: Pfizer, Vertex and Poz

December 19, 2012

Pfizer and at least two other pharmas are spreading pink slips instead of cheer
 

WebMD cuts 250 jobs amid advertising malaise

December 11, 2012

WebMD is laying off 14% of its workforce in hopes of saving $45 million to offset revenue losses from an ongoing advertising slump that's plagued the portal throughout 2012.
 

Company news: AstraZeneca, Targacept

October 09, 2012

AstraZeneca buys license to kidney drug; Targacept has another round of layoffs.
 

Company news: Merck, Novo Nordisk

October 04, 2012

Merck slims down, Novo goes wide
 

Lundbeck, building "European commercial model of the future," lays off 600

June 14, 2012

The company said in a statement that proposed layoffs will help the drugmaker weather uncertainty on pricing and reimbursement in Europe.
 

Sales forces shrank in 2011, but not everywhere

May 16, 2012

Pharmas shrank their US sales forces by 7% between 2010 and 2011, but the pain wasn't shared evenly between the biggest of pharmas, as a number of players scaled up.
 

Enbrel reps risk layoff, as Pfizer calls early end to US selling

April 23, 2012

When Pfizer's US Enbrel sales force gives way to Amgen's in July, reps risk layoff if they don't get picked up by Amgen or re-assigned to Pfizer's new JAK inhibitor.
 

Takeda, digesting Nycomed, downsizes in Europe and the US

January 18, 2012

Takeda said it will slash its global workforce by around 2,800 jobs - 700 of those in the US and the rest in Europe - as it absorbs Nycomed and moves toward a more diverse product portfolio.
 

Novartis slashes 1,960 US sales and marketing jobs amid hypertension franchise implosion

January 13, 2012

Novartis will eliminate 1,630 sales rep jobs and 330 headquarters marketing jobs as its hypertension franchise faces the impending loss of Diovan patent exclusivity and the impact of ugly study results on Tekturna sales.
 

AstraZeneca slashes US sales force by a quarter

December 08, 2011

AstraZeneca is slashing its US sales force by 24% as the company confronts a steep patent cliff and late-stage pipeline that has delivered a string of disappointments in recent years.
 

Sanofi plans new layoffs, buyouts for reps

November 07, 2011

Sanofi will winnow its field force down through a "voluntary separation program" and relocation of some reps, said a spokesperson following news of another round of layoffs at the company.
 

Dendreon downsizes amid Provenge reimbursement woes

September 09, 2011

Dendreon is downsizing to the tune of around 500 jobs and COO Hans Bishop is on the outs as the company struggles to launch its prostate cancer vaccine Provenge, which is seeing glacial uptake amid reimbursement woes.
 

Company News: Medivation, Hacker Group and HealthHG

March 30, 2010

San Francisco-based biotech Medivation said it will cut 23 positions -- a fifth of its staff -- as part of a cost-cutting exercise in the wake of the failure of Alzheimer's drug candidate dimebon, which the firm was partnering with Pfizer on.
 

UCB exits US primary care

February 01, 2010

UCB is getting out of the US primary care market by the end of the month to focus on its specialty immunology and neurology franchises.
 

Novartis held the line on sales and marketing spend in 2009

January 26, 2010

Novartis' US sales reorg seems to have paid off in 2009 as the company held the line on sales and marketing expenses despite a passel of global launches.
 

Pfizer shrinks R&D operations

November 09, 2009

Pfizer will shrink the square footage of its global R&D operation by 35% as it absorbs Wyeth, sharply reducing some sites, shuttering others and prompting an as-yet unspecified number of layoffs.
 

J&J to cut 8,000 jobs worldwide by 2011

November 03, 2009

Johnson & Johnson will slash headcount by 6-7% -- between 7,020 and 8,190 of its 117,000 employees worldwide -- as part of a broad restructuring.
 

Smaller biotechs hit as Shire cuts bait on experimental drugs

October 30, 2009

Amicus Therapeutics announced a work-force reduction of about 20 percent, or 26 employees, as a part of a corporate restructuring after a commercialization deal with Shire soured.
 

Lilly revamps sales model for smaller territories

August 04, 2009

Eli Lilly & Co. will eliminate around 300 positions in its US diabetes, neuroscience and osteoporosis sales forces as it implements a new sales model featuring smaller territories, each manned by a rep with deep therapeutic expertise.
 

Amylin slashes sales force by 35%

May 05, 2009

Amylin is cutting 200 sales positions -- around 35% of its sales force -- as it merges its specialty and primary care sales forces into a single organization targeting endocrinologists and diabetes-focused primary care physicians.
 

J&J to eliminate 900 sales-related positions

April 10, 2009

Johnson & Johnson will cut 900 positions at its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit by the end of the second quarter.
 

Number of reps down 10% since 2007, says study

March 23, 2009

Job security for pharma sales reps is looking bleak, going by the results of a ZS Associates study. The survey found that the number of US reps has plummeted 10% since 2007 to 92,000, and the management consultancy projects a further decline, to 75,000 by 2012.
 

Troubled KV cuts 700 jobs amid suspension

February 09, 2009

KV Pharmaceutical Company said it is eliminating 700 jobs as part of a cost-cutting program following a suspension of manufacturing and product recalls resulting from an FDA investigation.
 

Allergan, King cut sales and marketing

February 04, 2009

Allergan announced it will lay off 460 employees, mainly in sales and marketing, while King Pharmaceuticals said it would cut 760 positions, including 380 field sales staff.
 

Deep cuts at AstraZeneca, Sepracor

January 29, 2009

The cuts keep coming. AstraZeneca will make another 6,000 job cuts for a total of 15,000, or 23% of its global workforce of 65,000, by 2013, and Sepracor is slashing its sales force.
 

Pfizer/Wyeth cuts to top 18,000

January 26, 2009

Pfizer will cut between 18,000 and 19,000 jobs as it absorbs Wyeth, the company said.
 

AstraZeneca cuts jobs, closes factories

November 21, 2008

AstraZeneca (AZ) announced plans to cut an additional 1,400 jobs - on top of the previously announced 7,600 - as the company deals with impending generic competition.
 

Novartis to cut 550 US sales jobs as part of reorganization

October 20, 2008

Novartis will eliminate 550 positions from its US sales force "in a socially responsible manner," with half coming from unfilled vacancies, and establish five new regional units with cross-functional responsibility for primary care as part of its "Customer Centric Initiative."
 
  

Web Exclusive

Angelina Jolie's fearless but flawed message

Paul Oestreicher, Ph.D. May 17, 2013

Angelina Jolie's story raises important questions about education, outreach and access—but her nod to holistic treatments is less helpful
 

Podcasts

How to engage even the busiest physicians

March 04, 2013

Sponsored by TRUE Health + Wellness. The increasingly demanding schedules of healthcare professionals continue to narrow the window of opportunity for pharma sales teams, and, as a result, marketers are focusing more on non-personal promotion. However, there's a lot more to it than simply bombarding physicians with brand messages, as Anne Stroup, Managing Director at TRUE Health + Wellness, explains to MM&M's James Chase in this special podcast presentation.
 

2013 Hall of Fame Inductees

An entertaining look at the extraordinary lives and careers of the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame's 2013 inductees: Peter Frishauf, Dorothy Philips and David Labson. Clips produced by JUICE Pharma. 

Slideshows

MAHF 2013: Honors Class

A gallery of images from the 2013 Medical Advertising Hall of Fame induction dinner
 
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