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LONDON (AP) - AstraZeneca PLC announced it will slash 3,000 jobs over the next three years despite reporting its third successive year of earnings growth Thursday, stressing that it still needs to improve its weak pipeline of future drugs. The drug maker, which is facing patent challenges and escalating generic competition, revealed the job cuts as part of a US$500 million (euro384.02 million) three-year revamp of its supply chain as it said that sales growth would continue at a slower pace this year. Net profit for the three months to Dec. 31 rose 17 per cent to US$1.4 billion (euro1.08 billion), from US$1.2 billion a year earlier, AstraZeneca said. Revenue rose 14 per cent to US$7.2 billion (euro5.56 billion). For the full year, profits rose 28.5 per cent to US$6.04 billion (euro4.66 billion), while revenue lifted 11 per cent to US$26.8 billion (euro20.69 billion), marking the third year of growth since the expiration of a number of key patents in 2003.
AstraZeneca follows Pfizer in shedding thousands of jobs
LONDON: In the latest sign of upheaval in the pharmaceutical industry, AstraZeneca said Thursday that it planned to cut about 3,000 jobs, or 4.6 percent of its global work force, to ensure profit growth as generic competition increases. The move follows plans by Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, to reduce its staff numbers by 10 percent and reflects tough times for manufacturers facing increased generic competition, weak pipelines and pressure on prices. AstraZeneca said the job cuts over three years would focus on its factories, helping it maintain financial performance in an increasingly competitive environment. At the same time, AstraZeneca reported that it had met forecasts for 2006 with a 28 percent jump in pretax profit, to $8.54 billion.
When to go to the ER
But you've experienced indigestion before. Maybe this pain in the gut is simply a sour reaction to that heavy barbecue you ate earlier in the day. So you take an antacid, get off your feet and figure the problem will take care of itself. But a couple of hours later, the pain is worse. And it's Sunday, meaning a phone call to your physician's office reaches an answering service that can't schedule you for an appointment for at least 24 hours. The pain seems too intense to wait a day or two. What do you do? There's always the emergency department of your closest hospital or medical center. Certainly that's a popular option. An estimated 300,000 people visit emergency rooms around the country every day, according to data collected by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
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