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Sanofi to shed up to 650 reps
It seems as if every time we publish our biggest layoffs list, new entries come to the fore. Today's installment comes from Sanofi-Aventis, which is plotting another raft of sales-rep cuts, this time in the United States.
As you know, Sanofi has already thinned the rep ranks in Europe by about 800. Now, it's going for a "single-digit percentage" reduction in its U.S. sales force, or up to 650 positions. (We know you're math whizzes and have already figured out that Sanofi currently counts 6,500 U.S. reps.)
Two things about these cuts: One, they come just two days after GlaxoSmithKline alum Chris Viehbacher (photo) took over the CEO post. Industry observers were expecting Viehbacher to get busy with some cost-cutting and other changes, but did anyone predict that he'd move this fast? Two, the laid-off Sanofi folks will be joining an ever-growing queue of laid-off pharma reps looking for new jobs. The list of companies that have shed sales staff this year reads like a Who's Who of Pharma, including Novartis, Merck, Wyeth, GSK, Schering-Plough, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
- check out our Top Layoffs feature
- see the Wall Street Journal Health Blog post
- check out Pharmalot's take
Related Articles:
What will Viehbacher bring to Sanofi?
Analysts predict Sanofi shakeup in 2009
Sanofi to cut 817 French reps
Ranks of sales reps thinning
Pharma sales undergoes major shift
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 1:15pm | December 4, 2008
Well your information on Sanofi is basically without any context. The job cuts , 600 General Theraputic reps, occurred on Monday and have been in the works for about a year. They had zero to do with the new CEO. There also was a reduction of 300+ contract sales reps. This is only the beginning. The new CEO laid out 5 key points of focus on day one centered around R&D and aquisition. People were number 4 on the list, which gives you some idea how important people are to this new leader. He has already shot himself in the foot and would do well to start with a new management team that has some idea how to run a business and motivate people. They took one year to lay off essentially one sales force and in the mean time nobody worked for a year while they waited to see if they were on the "list". This company has serious operational issues and the stock price reflects its morale.
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