London: GlaxoSmithKline confirmed on Wednesday it would shed several hundred U.S. commercial jobs and a similar number of research positions as it restructures operations in its biggest market, where drug sales are flagging.
Many of the jobs lost will be from GSK`s Research Triangle Park site in North Carolina as drug research is consolidated in Philadelphia and in Stevenage, near London.
"This is a significant programme and will result in the loss of several hundred employees in the U.S. commercial business and a similar number in R&D activities based in the U.S.," a company spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Sources familiar with the matter said at the weekend the drugmaker would inform U.S. staff about the job cuts as it starts implementing a big cost-saving programme, following a sharp decline in sales of its top-selling lung drug Advair.
Britain`s biggest drugmaker announced in October that the new restructuring scheme would save 1 billion pounds ($1.57 billion) in annual costs over three years, although it did not go into details at the time.
