More job cuts among Big Pharma firms

Less that a week after it announced it was to cut 800 R&D staff (Marketletter January 29), global pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer is to  lay-off three times that number of employees from its US sales force,  whereas Swiss drug major Roche plans to eliminate 780 positions over the  next few years.

Bloomberg news quoted a source close to Pfizer who claims the firm will  axe a third of its US salespeople by the end of the current quarter. The  news service says this will focus on sales representatives and middle  management.

Pfizer issued a statement to Bloomberg saying that it would not comment  on the rumors, but added that it is constantly looking to optimize  efficiency. The move comes less than a week after the firm announced  that it will cut 5% to 8% of its research staff by the end of 2009.