Novartis, GSK and Sanofi Scale Back on Operations and Labor Forces Overseas - Updated
Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi have announced plans for significant cutbacks and changes in their labor force overseas for financial, operational and logistical reasons.
Novartis' 400 Job Cuts in Dublin
Novartis announced there would be up to 400 job cuts from the operations at the Global Service Centre at Elm Park in Dublin by 2024. With 1,000 people currently employed in Ireland, this cutback will affect roughly half of all employees.
RTE reported that this change comes from a strategic decision based on an ongoing review of operations. The Dublin location is expected to still play an essential role in the company's commercial and scientific operations.
This announcement comes just months after the Swiss pharma company noted it plans to cut up to 8,000 jobs, or 7% of the total workforce, to save at least $1 billion by 2024. Around 2,000 of those jobs were in Switzerland, with 600 in leadership positions.
The company announced a global restructuring in April that would merge the oncological and pharmaceutical divisions. This plan has led to massive cutbacks and restructuring within the company.
Novartis declined BioSpace's request for comment.
GSK's Commercial Operations to Move to Third Party in Kenya
Commercial operations in Kenya will be replaced by third-party operations, GSK said in a statement on Thursday.
The operations at Nairobi's Industrial area plant will soon be under the consumer healthcare business Haleon, which distributes medicines and vaccines like Panadol and Sensodyne. GSK announced Haleon as its premiere independent consumer healthcare company in early 2022.
The direct distribution model will be replaced by a third-party distributor to cut back on operational costs in Kenya. Britain-based GSK decided to bring in its third-party model following periodic reviews of its operations.
GSK has not provided any numbers on how many jobs may be affected by this transition.
A GSK spokesperson told BioSpace that this decision was not made lightly.
"Our current commercial operations are staffed by skilled professionals dedicated to ensuring our medicines and vaccines are made available to patients who need them, and this decision has not been taken lightly," the spokesperson said. "We understand the impact of this proposal on them, their families and the region affected."
Sanofi Sells Manufacturing Site in Japan
Sanofi sells its 50-year-old manufacturing site in Japan to Germany-based Adragos Pharma, the companies announced on Thursday.
The pharmaceutical manufacturing site, located in Kawagoe, Japan, was responsible for manufacturing oral solids, sterile liquids and packing, visual inspection and retesting services for Asian markets for Sanofi, the Adragos press release said.
Adregos will reportedly continue working with Sanofi as a strategic partner and manufacturer. The company plans to "introduce new customers to the manufacturing site" from Europe, North America and the domestic Japanese market.
This is the second investment for Adragos Pharma in Japan, making the Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization one of Japan's top three largest CDMOs.