Layoffs impact 14% of development roles as part of move to 'reshape capabilities'
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has announced plans to streamline its development organisation by cutting up to 680 jobs over the next two to three years.
The company is expected to eliminate some 440 jobs in Switzerland and up to 240 positions in the US, Reuters reported, affecting around 14% of the development roles based in these two countries.
There are around 12,500 Novartis employees currently working in product development, responsible for handling drug regulations, analytics, and quality assurance, along with other support functions. About 3,000 of these roles are based in Switzerland, while another 2,000 are in the US.
Apple and Amazon Web Services also recently announced cuts to their workforces.
New roles despite global layoffs
Despite the planned job cuts, Novartis said it will also be adding new roles over the same period, resulting in a net global workforce decrease of 1-2%.
It said the layoffs are part of a move to “reshape its capabilities” to access talent in other places, including data science and regulatory specialists in the UK.
A spokesperson told Reuters that the company remains committed to maintaining Switzerland as its “innovation hub for complex development.”
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The US will also remain a “key development hub with strong representation in our global program teams, responsible for advancing our medicines pipeline,” the spokesperson said.
According to Reuters, Novartis’ planned job cuts in development are separate from a broader restructuring initiative that could see as many as 8,000 jobs cut from its global workforce of 78,000.
Roche, another Swiss pharmaceutical leader, announced in February that it was eliminating 345 roles in production development.
“The success and sustainable growth of our company depends on our ability to recognize innovation proactively and early on, to adapt to change and to use our resources wisely,” a spokesperson for Roche said. “We expect Roche's total workforce to remain stable in 2024.”
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