The Belgian drugmaker that bought Schwarz Pharma is cutting 2,000 jobs, or 17 percent of its staff, to spur profits and lower administrative costs. The move is part of an effort to redirect $444 million into research on meds for immunology and the central nervous system.

UCB faces eroding sales as patents expire on its two biggest meds, the Zyrtec antihistamine and Keppra treatment for epilepsy. The drugmaker hopes to compensate with a new epilepsy med and by focusing on higher-margin specialty products. “Patent expiries are challenging times,” UCB ceo Roch Dovieux says in a statement. “The time is now to take action to shape UCB for the future and become a specialist company.”

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is closing its research facility in Sydney, Australia, BioTechnologyNews.net reports. The decision means 75 staffers will lose their jobs as part of the health care giant’s global cost-cutting campaign. The facility worked on molecular diagnostics, cell delivered gene therapies and novel RNA therapeutics.

“The difficult decision to close the facility was driven by the need to rationalise J&J’s international pharmaceutical research and development efforts in order to achieve greater efficiencies and maintain the company’s strong financial position,” J&J said in a statement. “The closure comes after a global review of the company’s pharmaceutical operations brought about by a need to reduce costs at a time where the company and the industry in general faces a number of patent expiries, coupled with some delays in the registration of pipeline products.”

Meanwhile, though, Pfizer plans to boost staff by almost a third at its China Research and Development Center in Shanghai by year’s end, according to Interfax. How many people does this involve? We are waiting for a comment from Pfizer.