Drug maker Roche to cut 4,800 jobs, mostly in US

[judyd]

They are the suppliers of many drugs, two notables are Tamiflu and Valium. It would be a welcome idea if this was done in an effort to keep their prices down, but no, they want to increase the profits to keep the stockholders happy. As a result though, again, thousands in the US will be out of work. I wonder what their "socially responsible solutions" will be?

GENEVA (AP) - Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche will cut 4,800 jobs over two years, mostly in the U.S., to help save 2.4 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion) by 2012, the company said Wednesday.

The cuts amount to six percent of its 82,000-strong global work force and will mainly affect positions in sales, marketing and manufacturing, Basel-based Roche Holding AG said in a statement.

A further 1,500 jobs will be transferred to other locations within the company or outsourced, meaning that a total of 6,300 positions will be affected.

Roche reported a 7 percent year-on-year drop in third-quarter sales last month to 11.5 billion francs.

U.S. locations will be hit hardest by Roche's "Operational Excellence Program," with some 3,550 jobs cut or moved elsewhere. Sites in Florence, South Carolina; Boulder, Colorado; Nutley, New Jersey; Madison, Wisconsin; and Vacaville, South San Francisco and Oceanside in California will be affected, the company said.

Roche will also cut or transfer 770 jobs in Switzerland, 1,300 in other European countries and 680 in the rest of the world.

"These measures are necessary to ensure sustained success of the company," said Roche's Chief Executive, Severin Schwan. "We will make every effort to find socially responsible solutions for the employees affected."

Read the entire article:
Drug maker Roche to cut 4,800 jobs, mostly in US - wtop.com

 

[Oddball]

Good thing we have such an inexpensive and effective bureaucracy in the FDA, which does such yeoman's work in holding down R&D costs for these guys, or we'd really be in the shit.

 

[The Infidel]

Drug maker Roche to cut 4,800 jobs, mostly in US





Hmmmmm.... I wonder why

 

[manu1959]

how about this...

if only the workers were unionized then the goverment could bail them out.....bummer...

or

the bastards they should be forced to continue to pay those workers and run the company into the ground ....

or

it is a swiss company that said fuck it ... it is to expensive to have so many employees in america....

or

if only it was an american company then the government could sieze it and miss manage it....

 

[judyd]

Good thing we have such an inexpensive and effective bureaucracy in the FDA, which does such yeoman's work in holding down R&D costs for these guys, or we'd really be in the shit.

Sure, people whine about the FDA and how we don't need it, until a drug gets through that does cause problems.

 

[Revere]

Whose standard of "social responsiblity" do the have to abide by?

 

[manu1959]

Whose standard of "social responsiblity" do the have to abide by?

we are talking about the swiss.....they have no social conscience....

 

[Mr. H.]

Many drug patents have expired or are set to expire which will adversly affect revenues.

 

[Oddball]

Good thing we have such an inexpensive and effective bureaucracy in the FDA, which does such yeoman's work in holding down R&D costs for these guys, or we'd really be in the shit.

Sure, people whine about the FDA and how we don't need it, until a drug gets through that does cause problems.

Yeah...We really need the FDA costing pharm companies $500+ million and years of foot-dragging to get drugs like Vioxx and Phen-fen on the market, while orphan drugs languish on the shelves because their discoverers can't recoup the costs.

 

[midcan5]

I find it interesting that the cuts are always among the workers but never at the top. I did once see a CFO get the can for being too generous, but hey even the elite screw up now and then.

This is easy though, don't buy Roche unless your life depends on it. One day Americans and others will wake up and realize they need to support each other. Number are large enough to exclude the wingnuts on the right who will always be under the spell of the spirit of Freedumb.

Excellent piece below, not completely OT but relevant.

"Summary: Economists who insist that "offshore outsourcing" is just a routine extension of international trade are overlooking how major a transformation it will likely bring -- and how significant the consequences could be. The governments and societies of the developed world must start preparing, and fast.

Alan S. Blinder is Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics at Princeton University. He served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 1993 to 1994 and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from 1994 to 1996."

A CONTROVERSY RECONSIDERED

"Their economics were basically sound: the well-known principle of comparative advantage implies that trade in new kinds of products will bring overall improvements in productivity and well-being. But Mankiw and his defenders underestimated both the importance of offshoring and its disruptive effect on wealthy countries. Sometimes a quantitative change is so large that it brings about qualitative changes, as offshoring likely will. We have so far barely seen the tip of the offshoring iceberg, the eventual dimensions of which may be staggering."

http://www.internationaltraderelati...oring (Foreign Affairs, March-April 2006).pdf

 

[Revere]

If Obama gets his way, can I buy electricity from a plant fired by coal mined by American miners?

 

[uscitizen]

Good thing we have such an inexpensive and effective bureaucracy in the FDA, which does such yeoman's work in holding down R&D costs for these guys, or we'd really be in the shit.

Sure, people whine about the FDA and how we don't need it, until a drug gets through that does cause problems.

Actually Americans get more upset over poison pet food than toxic Heparin that killed humans.

what aobut all the rights howling over not importing drugs from Canada becuase they were unsafe?
Many fools will believe anything big business tells them

 

[judyd]

Good thing we have such an inexpensive and effective bureaucracy in the FDA, which does such yeoman's work in holding down R&D costs for these guys, or we'd really be in the shit.

Sure, people whine about the FDA and how we don't need it, until a drug gets through that does cause problems.

Actually Americans get more upset over poison pet food than toxic Heparin that killed humans.

what aobut all the rights howling over not importing drugs from Canada becuase they were unsafe?
Many fools will believe anything big business tells them

Well, actually, an American citizen can buy prescriptions from Canada without problems from the US government. They say they are not going after people who buy one or two prescriptions. I would do it for my eyedrops if they didn't have to be refrigerated. I'm not sure that would be done in transit. But otherwise, if I had to take anything else, I would do it without hesitation.

 

[Revere]

Sure, people whine about the FDA and how we don't need it, until a drug gets through that does cause problems.

Actually Americans get more upset over poison pet food than toxic Heparin that killed humans.

what aobut all the rights howling over not importing drugs from Canada becuase they were unsafe?
Many fools will believe anything big business tells them

Well, actually, an American citizen can buy prescriptions from Canada without problems from the US government. They say they are not going after people who buy one or two prescriptions. I would do it for my eyedrops if they didn't have to be refrigerated. I'm not sure that would be done in transit. But otherwise, if I had to take anything else, I would do it without hesitation.

Is the the US government looking out for "the little guy?"

 

[judyd]

Actually Americans get more upset over poison pet food than toxic Heparin that killed humans.

what aobut all the rights howling over not importing drugs from Canada becuase they were unsafe?
Many fools will believe anything big business tells them

Well, actually, an American citizen can buy prescriptions from Canada without problems from the US government. They say they are not going after people who buy one or two prescriptions. I would do it for my eyedrops if they didn't have to be refrigerated. I'm not sure that would be done in transit. But otherwise, if I had to take anything else, I would do it without hesitation.

Is the the US government looking out for "the little guy?"

Probably not--I think they realize it would be expensive and worthless to try to chase down every individual prescription ordered from Canada. That's why they stated they wouldn't be going after US citizens who ordered from Canada. Now, that could change, I suppose, if someone started bringing in huge quantities of a drug.

 

[Revere]

You don't need Obamacare to let you buy prescription drugs in Canada. That's a market solution.

Go toward the light.

 

[uscitizen]

Heck you do not even need a prescription in Mexico to by most drugs that are prescription in the USA.