AstraZéneca: Que, en realidad, eran 7.300 menos...

AstraZeneca will make 7,300 cuts to its sales and R&D staff by 2014, but the company has not yet said what countries will be affected.

AZ said it would pay out around $2.1 billion for the lay offs, with $261 million being charged in the fourth quarter of 2011.

But the firm expects these cuts to bring in $1.6 billion in annual benefits by the end of 2014, which will help offset the loss from generic competition to its biggest drugs.

The company said that around 3,750 positions would be cut from sales and administration posts, with around 2,200 coming from R&D. The remaining 1,350 will come from operations, the firm said.

The GMB Union has said 250 to 300 of the cuts will be in R&D at the firm's site in Alderley Park, Cheshire, but this has not yet been confirmed.

AZ said in a statement: “Our priority in the coming weeks will be to work with our affected employees on the proposed changes, acting in accordance with relevant local consultation requirements and labour laws.”

Speculations about the cuts have been gathering pace in recent days, but today’s figure is over double what had been rumoured.

This is now the third phase of cuts from the AZ. The Anglo-Swedish firm axed 12,600 jobs between 2007 and 2009, and began a second phase of cuts in 2010, which will see an additional 9,000 staff lose their jobs by 2014.

All told, the firm will lose nearly 29,000 staff by 2014, bringing its total staff level down to 53,700. (Ver)

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Y AstraZeneca 3.000...arr_astra .