Report: Big job cuts coming at Merck (thousands of jobs)

[UpInArms]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/26/news/fortune500/merck/

Troubled drugmaker to cut thousands of jobs, refocus research in bid to invigorate pipeline: WSJ.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Merck & Co. is set to announce plans to cut thousands of jobs and scale back its drugmaking operations to better focus on certain types of drugs, a news report said Saturday.

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The report comes as one of Merck's most important products, its cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor, faces losing most of its $5 billion in sales next year when its patent expires.

Merck (Research), hurt by the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx last year and what analysts call weakness in its drug pipeline, has seen its stock slide nearly 70 percent over the past five years.

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Estimates that Merck will shed up to several thousand jobs was "a good number to work with," the Journal report quoted one person familiar with the situation as saying.

The person declined to say how many plants might be affected, noting that less than a half-dozen wasn't "far off," the report said.

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