Merck Is Cutting 1,200 Sales Reps
10 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 5th, 2008 // 4:44 pm
Battered by the drop in Vytorin and Zetia prescriptions, as well as the unexpected rejection of its follow-up Cordaptive cholesterol pill, the drugmaker is cutting still more jobs. This comes on top of a companywide reorganization that was begun in 2005 that has since involved eliminating approximately 8,100 positions.
“Merck is taking this step as part of our previously disclosed, continuing efforts to optimize our cost base and improve Merck’s effectiveness and efficiency across all aspects of our business as part of our Plan to Win strategy,” Ken Frazier, president of the global human health unit, says in a statement.
“With eight successful launches of Merck products approved in the US since 2006 now behind us, and with an unexpected delay in a new product approval, we decided to accelerate the achievement of efficiencies we anticipate gaining as we transition to our new commercial model in the US.”
The move follows similar steps taken by most of its rivals, which are also eliminating thousands of jobs, particularly among their sales teams. Wyeth, for instance, last week announced plans to also cut 1,200 jobs after previously announcing plans to cut 1,240 sales reps. As of last December, Merck had 59,800 employees worldwide.
robb
just a note to say that the 1200 jobs cut last week by wyeth were not sales positions.
Ky Sanderson
That’s a good start. If Merck would now fire their executives and scientists, we would see some great progress.
Paul
Ky,
I am appalled that you would rejoice about 1,200 people losing their jobs; think about their futures and their families.
Regardless of whose fault it was, or what you may think of a company, there comes a time when some element of humanity has to exist.
Chris
Paul
I agree with you and well put. Sometimes it’s baffling to imagine what goes through some posters’ minds when you see comments like this. I can’t believe it’s intended as literally as it appears. The again, some seem to have their own particular iPods turned up way too loud to hear what anyone else might have to say.
Solution
Unfortunately, there is no humanity left in Big Pharma, or the rest of corporate America for that matter. No executives care about the rank and file. They just care about how to save their own butts! How can they milk the most money out of the company by making callous decisions and look good? Just look at Fred Hassan at Schering-Plough. Stock goes down, so cut 10% of the work force. Wall Street will like that tough move. It’s all about the money!
Bobby C
Paul,
Are you joking? Pharmaceutical snake-oil salesmen should not HAVE jobs. All they do is pressure/bribe doctors to prescribe unnecessary drugs or confuse the public with elaborate, Madison-Ave t.v. advertisements. This greatly corrupts health care.
If there is one industry that needs to downsize for the betterment of our Nation’s health, it is Big Pharma.
Bizmology » Blog Archive » Health care layoffs prove contagious
[...] in the pharmaceutical sector continue apace, with Merck announcing it will cut its US sales force by about 15% in order to curb the hurt from falling Vytorin sales and the FDA’s rejection of its [...]
Zach
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2008-03-28-wyeth-job-cuts_N.htm
Zach
Just wanted to affirm that Wyeth cuts are sales reps according to the media
Ed Silverman
Hi Zach,
As a member of the media, I’d like to point out that I posted two recent items concerning Wyeth job cutbacks.
On April 28, Pharmalot was the first to report that Wyeth was eliminating 1,200 jobs across the board.
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/04/wyeth-lays-off-another-1200-employees/
On March 27, Wyeth confirmed 1,200 sales rep jobs would go, although the number was more recently fine-tuned at 1,240, as indicated my more recent post.
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/03/wyeth-cuts-1200-sales-reps/
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll continue doing so, since you can catch more pharma news on Pharmalot all the time.
Regards