Danish pharma company Lundbeck is to shed 180 to 200 jobs in Europe in a restructure of its European business services functions.
The move, which is part of its ongoing Fit-for-the-Future project, will see a new business service centre established in Poland follows the news of 50 job losses within its commercial operations this year and some 600 last year.
The latest cuts will have to wait for the completion of consultation processes with relevant work councils but are likely, Lundbeck said, to take effect between 2014 and 2015.
Chief financial officer Anders Götzsche said: “Lundbeck remains fully committed to our long-term strategy and over the years we have taken decisive steps in order to improve our organisational efficiencies and our ability to succeed in a changing environment.
“We are very aware that these initiatives affect many employees and we will strive to mitigate any negative effects these might have”.
The firm hopes its Fit-for-the-Future project will bring in savings of more than 500m Danish krone (€67m) a year from 2016, by reducing complexity, increasing organisational efficiency and decreasing spending on less critical activities.
Lundbeck said the changes were part of a drive to improve its product launch capabilities by simplifying its commercial structure, increasing alignment across countries and improving competencies and investing in areas like market access.
The company has set aside 200m Danish krone to pay for the latest reorganisation, and any other changes under the programme, and will book the charge in the third quarter of this year.
Nevertheless, Lundbeck has increased its 2013 revenue projections slightly from 14.6 – 15bn Danish krone to 14.8 – 15.2 bn Danish krone, but said earnings before interest and taxes would take a hit from its recent anti-competition fine and, at best, would be flat compared to 2012.
The company was hit with a €93.8m penalty in June after the European Commission concluded it had collaborated with several other companies to delay the entry of generic competition for its big-selling antidepressant Celexa/ Cipramil (citalopram).