The reorganization was disclosed over the summer, but the drugmaker hasn’t yet pulled the trigger on big cutbacks. But these will be made. In a conference call a short while ago, cfo Andrew Bonfield says “we haven’t yet started the layoffs. We expect to do that in the next few weeks, before the end of the year.” In other words, a holiday surprise.

But neither ceo Jim Cornelius or Bonfield would say how many jobs will go or sites to be closed. Those details are being saved for a Dec. 5 meeting with Wall Street analysts in Manhattan. In response to questions that Cornelius indicated cuts were already under way, he explains that any jobs that were shed in recent months were due to earlier initiatives that were still playing out. But he declined to be more specific.