Wyeth to slash another 1,200 jobs

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 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. In 2007, the FDA declined to approve Wyeth's osteoporosis candidate bazedoxifene (Viviant) and its schizophrenia med bifeprunox. Though Wyeth finally got its Effexor replacement Pristiq approved for depression, it was sent back to the drawing board on an indication for menopause.

- see the news at Pharmalot

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