The German drugmaker, which hopes to save more than $900 million as of 2009 after digesting Schering AG, says it tried to warn us about bringing in the wrecking crew.

“We want to create an internationally successful pharmaceutical company with competitive cost structures,” Werner Wenning, chairman of Bayer’s management board, says in a statement. “We said right from the start of the integration that job cuts would be necessary in order to achieve the synergy targets.”

Here’s the breakdown:
3,150 in Europe;
1,000 in the US;
750 jobs in Asia;
1,200 jobs in Latin America and Canada.

Looked at another way:
1,400 in global R&D;
1,850 in production;
2,850 in central admin, local and regional infrastructure.

Says Arthur Higgins, who chairs the Bayer Schering pharma board and Bayer Healthcare: “The integration process…is well on track. We are creating the basis for future growth and building an organization that will be competitive in the international marketplace.”

Yes, of course. Another instance where big pharma scores a merger, and makes big cuts to save big money. But this never guarantees growth, does it?

[tags]Bayer, Job Cuts[/tags]