Logo

More Cuts at AstraZeneca

Mar 20, 2013

AstraZeneca has announced that it is cutting about 1,600 jobs over three years, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Nature News blog adds that about 1,300 of those jobs are in research and development. The company will also be moving its headquarters from London to Cambridge in the UK.

As the Nature News blog reports, this restructuring will result in the loss of about 10 percent of AstraZeneca's R&D workforce and the remaining staff will mainly be located at the Cambridge site as well as in Gaithersburg, Md., and Mölndal, Sweden.

CEO Pascal Soriot, who joined from Roche in October, says that the restructuring is "a signal that we need to invest more in biologics research and development," as WSJ reports.

Breaking News
The Scan

Machine Learning Helps ID Molecular Mechanisms of Pancreatic Islet Beta Cell Subtypes in Type 2 Diabetes

The approach helps overcome limitations of previous studies that had investigated the molecular mechanisms of pancreatic islet beta cells, the authors write in their Nature Genetics paper.

Culture-Based Methods, Shotgun Sequencing Reveal Transmission of Bifidobacterium Strains From Mothers to Infants

In a Nature Communications study, culture-based approaches along with shotgun sequencing give a better picture of the microbial strains transmitted from mothers to infants.

Microbial Communities Can Help Trees Adapt to Changing Climates

Tree seedlings that were inoculated with microbes from dry, warm, or cold sites could better survive drought, heat, and cold stress, according to a study in Science.

A Combination of Genetics and Environment Causes Cleft Lip

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers investigate what combination of genetic and environmental factors come into play to cause cleft lip/palate.