The drugmaker told analysts last month that more jobs would be going as part of a cost-saving effort. And the results reported today underscore the problem - Novartis reported higher third-quarter profit, but that was mostly due to the sale of two units to Nestle. Sales were hurt by the withdrawal of Zelnorm, the irritable bowel syndrome drug, and generic versions of three big sellers - the Lotrel heart med, the Famvir genital herpes treatment and the Lamisil fungal drug. Then, there was the failure to win FDA approval for the Prexige Cox-2 painkiller, which has been linked to deaths elsewhere.

The various setbacks cut operating income at the pharma biz by 13 percent, while operating income more than doubled at the Sandoz generics unit. Operating income at the consumer health unit was little changed, but over in the vaccines division it was up $10 million, to $172 million. So to shake things up, Joe Jimenez becomes pharma ceo, a spot held by Thomas Ebeling, who held the spot for six years after arriving from Pepsi, but will now run the consumer health biz. Jimenez joined Novartis in April from Blackstone, the private equity firm, and was previously on the AstraZeneca board and an exec at HJ Heinz. The job cuts - 240 in US HQ functions, 510 sales reps and 510 contracted reps - are supposed to save $230 million.

At first blush, the first quarter results look rosy - net income increased to $6.86 billion, or $2.97 per share, from $1.87 billion, or 80 cents, a year earlier. But substract $5.2 billion from the medical nutrition and Gerber unit sales and profit fell 12 percent to $1.57 billion, compared with $1.8 billion expected by analysts, according to Bloomberg News. A $590 million provision for environmental charges didn’t help. Sales rose 9 percent to $9.6 billion. Here’s the press release with more numbers.

“The results really do underline what happens when you lose profit from blockbuster drugs,” Denise Anderson, an analyst at Landsbanki Kepler in Zurich, tells Bloomberg. “The fourth-quarter is traditionally weak for Novartis, don’t assume the worst is over.”

A few more tidbits: Novartis is creating a biologics division, but there is still no deal with the FDA about approving the long-delayed Galvus diabetes pill.