UCB Pharma - Top 5 layoffs of 2008

Company: UCB Pharma
Layoffs: 2,000

Summary: Citing impending patent expirations, Belgium's UCB Pharma said it would cut 2,000 jobs, or 17 percent of its workforce. Zyrtex went off patent in 2007 and the company's top-selling epileptic treatment, Keppra, will go off patent in 2009,. UCB will dedicate €300 million over the next three years to become a central nervous system and immunology disease company. UCB recently won approvals for Cimzia for Crohn's disease in the U.S. and the positive opinions for Neupro for RLS and Vimpat for epilepsy in Europe.

The drug developer said about 2,400 positions will become redundant, but that it will be creating around 400 new jobs. Three hundred other positions will be re-deployed to UCB's core sites.