Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. plans to eliminate about 9 percent of its workforce over the next four years to integrate Nycomed, the Swiss company it's counting on to reverse declining profits.
Takeda will cut 2,800 jobs, mainly in Europe and the U.S., to help yield net savings of about ¥130 billion by the year ending March 31, 2016, the Osaka-based company said Wednesday. Asia's biggest drug maker said costs associated with the plan will trim ¥35 billion from net income in the current financial year, which the company forecast in November will plunge 31 percent to an 11-year low.
European units may be merged or sold as part of the integration of Nycomed International Management GmbH, which Takeda bought for €9.6 billion (about ¥950 billion) in September. The Zurich-based company may help buffer Takeda from a slump in sales of Actos, its bestselling diabetes drug that from next August will face competition from generic copies.