AstraZeneca restructuring

AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) reported 4Q11 and FY11 financial results Thursday and announced a new restructuring initiative that includes 7,300 in employee cuts. About 2,200 R&D positions and 3,750 SG&A positions will be affected, with the remaining 1,350 positions coming from operations. AstraZeneca said most of the R&D changes will occur in the neuroscience therapy area. The company is discontinuing R&D activity at two sites focused on neuroscience -- Sodertalje, Sweden, and Montreal, Quebec -- and plans to create a new virtual Innovative Medicines Unit for neuroscience. The unit will be made up of a team of 40-50 scientists conducting discovery and development through academic and industry partnerships. The team will be based in neuroscience hubs such as Boston, Mass., and Cambridge, U.K., and will work closely with partners such as the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The restructuring is expected to result in about $1.6 billion in annual savings by the end of 2014.

Excluding Thursday's cuts, AstraZeneca said it has eliminated 21,460 positions since beginning restructuring efforts in 2007 (see BioCentury, Feb. 1, 2010). ...