And the ax is falling again. Wyeth notified employees last Friday than another 1,200 jobs will be slashed from the payroll. That's on top of the 1,240 sales jobs [1]slated for elimination last month.
The cutbacks are part of "Project Impact," a restructuring plan Wyeth hopes will help it grapple with impending generic competition and FDA-approval setbacks. Blockbuster heartburn treatment Protonix has already been losing to generic competition, so much so that the company introduced its own generic version [2]. In 2007, the FDA declined to approve Wyeth's osteoporosis candidate bazedoxifene (Viviant) and its schizophrenia med bifeprunox [3]. Though Wyeth finally got its Effexor replacement Pristiq approved for depression [4], it was sent back to the drawing board on an indication for menopause.
- see the news [5] at Pharmalot
Related Articles:
Top 8 layoffs of 2007
1,200 Wyeth reps out of work [6]
Wyeth mulls 5,000 job cuts [7]
Wyeth stumbles badly trying to develop new drugs [8]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/1200-wyeth-reps-out-of-work/2008-03-28
[2] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/wyeth-makes-its-own-protonix-copy/2008-01-30
[3] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/wyeth-solvay-get-fda-rejection/2007-08-10
[4] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/fda-approves-pristiq-for-depression/2007-01-24
[5] http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/04/wyeth-lays-off-another-1200-employees/
[6] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/top-5-layoffs-2007
[7] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/wyeth-mulls-5-000-job-cuts/2008-01-25
[8] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/wyeth-stumbles-badly-trying-develop-new-drugs/2007-08-13