Vivus is just one of a slate of companies that recently announced they were reducing workforce. The Boston Globe reports that Novartis has added 500 pink slips to that pile, pulling jobs from a research program in California, while at the same time opening 175 positions in Cambridge, MA. The Globe notes that Cambridge’s gain somewhat offsets the recent announcement that Vertex was releasing employees, due to a hazardous HCV sales environment.
Shire is also cutting jobs. Reuters reports the specialty drugmaker is cutting around 180 R&D jobs at its Basingstoke, UK, office, where it has 520 people on-staff. The streamlining is part of the company’s “One Shire” initiative.
