Novartis to redeploy Swiss pharma jobs
The pharmaceutical company Novartis plans to cut up to 500 jobs at its headquarters in Basel this year. It also pledges to create several hundred new jobs elsewhere, notably on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
The company said the redeployment, including possible redundancies, were necessary to bolster the launch of new drugs, notably for the treatment of respiratory, heart and skin diseases.
It added that the support services of the pharmaceutical division was the main sector affected by the reform. However, Basel is to remain one of the multinational’s main research centres.
The number of Novartis jobs in Switzerland is expected to remain at about 15,000 in 2014.
Overall, the pharma multinational employs about 133,000 people around the world.
The company recorded sales of $57.6 billion (CHF52.4 billion) in 2012, of which only 1% was realised in Switzerland, according to a company statement.
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