Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche to shed 4,800 jobs

November 17, 2010 | 15:23
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Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Wednesday announced it was shedding 4,800 jobs worldwide as part of a cost-cutting programme, amounting to around six per cent of its workforce.

As well as the job losses, it said it was transferring another 800 posts from its Swiss headquarters to other parts of the group and outsourcing another 700 jobs.

In total, 6,300 jobs are affected by the cost-cutting exercise which Roche first announced in September and hopes will generate 1.8 billion Swiss francs (1.3 billion euros) of savings next year and 2.4 billion from 2012.

The restructuring will cost around 2.7 billion. The pharmaceutical giant, which makes drugs such as flu medication Tamiflu, currently employs 80,000 people.

AFP

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