AstraZeneca’s new restructuring initiatives announces recently would eliminate 7,300 jobs (2,200 in Research and Development (R&D), 1,350 in manufacturing and operations and 3,750 in sales and administration), bringing their total cuts over the past five years to nearly 30,000.
Excess capacity in certain R&D functions will be reduced, matching resources to AstraZeneca’s more focused R&D portfolio and as a results their Neuroscience-research laboratories in Sodertalje, Sweden and Montreal will be shut down. They will be replaced by a "virtual" neuroscience unit, by entering into collaborations, just like other big pharma companies, with academic institutions. These units will be made up of a small team of around 40 to 50 AstraZeneca scientists conducting discovery and development externally, through a network of some of the most innovative partners in academia and industry globally. The team will be based in major neuroscience hubs – Boston (US) and Cambridge (UK) – and work closely with innovative partners such as the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden).
This move is expected to deliver an estimated $1.6 billion in annual benefits by the end of 2014, at an estimated total cost of $2.1 billion. AstraZeneca expects a dip in revenue with several of their drugs (including Seroquel and Nexium) loose patients in the coming years.
AstraZeneca continues to invest in R&D in the following therapy areas: cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, oncology, neuroscience and respiratory & inflammation.
With a weak late stage pipeline (roughly 3-5 filings are expected in this year), AstraZeneca will try to in licence some mid/late stage asset to boost its pipeline.
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