GlaxoSmithKline to cut 850 jobs

The latest round of job cuts at British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline calls for the elimination of 850 research and development positions company-wide, including an undisclosed number in Research Triangle Park.

The plans announced today are part of a continuing effort, announced last October, to save $1.4 billion a year over the next three years.

An undetermined number of the positions the company expects to cut currently are unfilled, the company said. GSK has more than 15,000 research-and-development staffers worldwide, including 2,500 in RTP, the site of one of the company’s two U.S. headquarters.

GSK declined to provide a breakdown of how many people or positions are affected in RTP.

“We usually don’t make that information public,” said spokeswoman Melinda Stubbee.

RTP workers affected by the cutbacks were notified today, but some of them could remain with the company for weeks or even months, Stubbee said.

The majority of the job cuts involve scientists, but administrative staff also will be affected.

The cutbacks are focused on preclinical and and early-stage drug development and are part of a “reshaping” of the company’s research-and-development effort, Stubbee said.

Prior to today’s cutbacks, the company had a total of about 5,500 workers in RTP and at its plant in Zebulon.

GSK previously had laid off more than 200 workers in the Triangle and more than 1,500 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Drug companies such as GSK have been buffeted by generic competition, greater scrutiny by regulators and limited success in developing new medicines.