Pharmaceutical giant set to axe thousands of jobs

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to embark on a major cost-cutting drive which is expected to result in thousands of job losses.

The company is set to reveal the bad news when it announces its full-year results this week.

According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, Britain’s largest pharmaceuticals company could be shedding around 6,000 positions worldwide as a result of increasing difficulties in the industry.

GSK’s UK rival, AstraZeneca, announced last week that it was to eliminate 15,000 staff by 2013 - far more than anticipated, while US giant Pfizer acquired rival Wyeth, in a deal worth $68 billion (£47 billion), which is set to result in thousands of job losses.

The industry is under pressure since companies are facing competition from cheap, generic ‘copycat‘ drugs as well-known products lose patent protection.

According to some analysts, the announcement of the combined Pfizer/Wyeth company, will trigger a long-predicted wave of consolidation in the industry.

However, it seems that investors did not receive the merger news well since Pfizer’s share price has plummeted on the New York stock exchange.

The news follows that from US banking giant, Morgan Stanley, who this weekend announced it is to slash 2,000 jobs worldwide.

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