Sanofi to cut 900 jobs in France

The pharmaceutical company Sanofi is to cut 900 jobs in its French operations by 2015. The company has stated that restructuring is necessary to establish “new momentum” in R&D, which is vital to ensure sustainability. Last year the company warned it might have to axe around 3,000 research jobs in the wake of its takeover of US biotech Genzyme. The company currently has 28,000 people in France - around a quarter of its global employees. Consultation on the job cuts, which the company says will be achieved “mainly” through voluntary arrangements which will include early retirements, starts next month. Sanofi has already recently shed 4,000 jobs (between 2009 and 2011): before this latest announcement it aimed to shave €2 billion from costs by 2015 while increasing earnings by 5% a year. The French group has taken some recent hits: first Plavix, the heart drug it markets with Bristol-Myers Squibb, lost its patent protection, and earlier this year Sanofi withdrew marketing applications worldwide for new drug Mulsevo after negative opinions on its benefit/risk balance. For further details, see InPharma