Novartis looking to cut costs in Switzerland

Novartis has launched an internal program at its Basle, Switzerland,headquarters to increase productivity and cut costs. A number of jobs will be cut in the group's pharmaceutical division by the end of this year, mainly through early retirements, though Novartis spokeswoman Marguerite Mamane said that redundancies had not been ruled out. Novartis has already put through a program of economies in its agrochemicals division from mid-June this year with 1,100 jobs going worldwide, 150-200 of them in Switzerland.

Since the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz to create Novartis three years ago, the group has fallen behind major domestic competitor Roche and now faces a period of austerity in a bid to improve profitability. While the company is still heavily dependent on key products such as Voltaren (diclofenac) and Sandimmun (ciclosporin) for growth, from 2001 a number of new products are expected to emerge from its pipeline. However, industry observers believe that Novartis needs to strengthen its presence in the US pharmaceutical market, and there is some debate about the current structure of its life sciences business.