Pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis is eliminating “hundreds of jobs,” reports Ed Silverman at Pharmalot. The cuts come in the wake of Sanofi’s acquisition of Genzyme, he say, adding that some R&D operations will be shuffled between its New Jersey and Massachusetts sites, and that there will be layoffs in sales, particularly in the cardiovascular and oncology groups.
“The cutbacks are hardly surprising, though,” Silverman notes. “A few weeks ago, Sanofi disclosed plans to cut another $2.9 billion in costs in hopes of coping with upcoming expiration of patents on big-selling meds, notably the Plavix bloodthinner and Avapro high blood pressure medicine. R&D costs, for instance, are in the process of being cut by 12 percent from 2008 to about $1.1 billion, excluding Genzyme.”