Glaxo set to unveil more cuts in U.S.

GlaxoSmithKline, brace yourself for more cuts in the U.S. As part of the drugmaker's ongoing restructuring, the company is planning to announce more reorganizational moves for the U.S. market. And those moves include additional staff reductions, sources are telling Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot.

Like many of the recently announced cuts at pharma companies, these are expected to affect sales reps in particular. U.S. employees are scheduled to get the news tomorrow, the sources said.

A company spokeswoman confirmed that an announcement is coming: "We do have time scheduled to meet with employees to talk about the latest progress... to basically reshape the organization to be fit for the future challenges we're facing," she told Pharmalot. One question that won't be answered in the discussion: Who's replacing Chris Viehbacher (photo) as U.S. chief, now that he's on his way to run Sanofi-Aventis?

As Glaxo's reorganizational plans have unfolded over the past year, the company has shut down manufacturing facilities, laid off sales reps and R&D types, unveiled a big research shakeup and initiated a consolidation in its U.S. consumer operations.

- see the Pharmalot story