It's finally here....

[Sample Man]

All over the news today based on our dismal results. (regardless of how management spins it) Restructuring will cost 1.5 billion so it will be huge. Very little changes in the US. Emerging markets won't be hit. The US market particularly sales and marketing will take the biggest hit. Brothers and sisters prepare now. Best of luck to everyone.

 

[anonymous]

Post the website. I haven't found anything.

 

[anonymous]

This article from Reuters.

AstraZeneca is to cut costs by $1 billion and increase its focus on cancer treatments after underlying earnings, hit by drug patent expiries, fell 12 percent in the first quarter, broadly in line with analyst expectations.

Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday he would sharpen the prioritization of investments and increase spending in oncology while cutting commercial and manufacturing operations.

The result would be a "material decline" in spending on commercial activities this year and next, with net annualized savings of $1.1 billion by the end of 2017. The changes will involve a $1.5 billion one-off restructuring charge.

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There will be job losses, reflecting the fact that specialist cancer drugs require smaller sales forces than ones sold to general practitioners. AstraZeneca declined to give numbers but said most of the job cuts would be outside Britain.

The drugmaker, which saw off a takeover attempt by Pfizer in 2014, is forecast by analysts to suffer a trough in earnings in 2016 and 2017 as it continues to be hit by loss of exclusivity on key products.

Its biggest seller, the cholesterol fighter Crestor, will face generic competition in the all-important U.S. market from next week.

Deutsche Bank analyst Richard Parkes said the detailed cost savings plan "should help investors become more comfortable over AstraZeneca's ability to bridge the upcoming Crestor patent cliff".

Soriot is betting on new medicines to revitalize the business, particularly in cancer, but these will take time to prove themselves. They also need investment.

"When you have all these great opportunities you have to then support them," he told reporters. "This is where the investment is going - it is more clinical trials, essentially, and launch preparation."

Soriot said there would be increased news about its new medicines in 2016, including a number of regulatory decisions and data readouts, particularly in oncology.



HIGH BAR FOR M&A

The British group has bought in products to bolster its new drug line-up, including the recent acquisitions of ZS Pharma and Acerta Pharma, but Soriot said he was setting a high bar for future deals as the company's pipeline was now full.

He declined to comment specifically on whether AstraZeneca would consider getting into a bidding war with Sanofi over U.S. cancer treatment specialist Medivation.

To free resources for investment, AstraZeneca has been selling off rights to non-core drugs and such "externalization" deals helped to boost revenue by $550 million in the first quarter. AstraZeneca agreed a further deal this week to sell rights to its new gout drug for up to $265 million.

Soriot believes he can build a business with annual sales of at least $45 billion by 2023, up from $24.7 billion in 2015, though many analysts question this target, which was first set out during the takeover battle with Pfizer.

He has high hopes in the hot cancer area of immuno-oncology but here AstraZeneca is competing with several tough rivals, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, whose drug Opdivo has established strong early leadership.

First-quarter revenue at the British drug company rose 1 percent in dollar terms to $6.12 billion, generating core earnings per share, which exclude certain items, of 95 cents.

Industry analysts had on average forecast quarterly revenue of $5.93 billion and earnings of 94 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

AstraZeneca reiterated that it expected a low to mid single-digit percentage decline in both revenue and core earnings at constant exchange rates for the full year.



(Editing by David Goodman and Susan Thomas)




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[anonymous]

We have all known this was coming for years and now it's here. Tick tock......

 

[anonymous]

i hope you bought your company cars while they were cheap with the recent vehicle cycle.

 

[anonymous]

All over the news today based on our dismal results. (regardless of how management spins it) Restructuring will cost 1.5 billion so it will be huge. Very little changes in the US. Emerging markets won't be hit. The US market particularly sales and marketing will take the biggest hit. Brothers and sisters prepare now. Best of luck to everyone.

The U.S. is the only place large enough to make this size of cost cut. I don't know about you, but I am hoping for a package and have already started my job search. We all knew this gravy train couldn't last forever. Good luck to everyone.

 

[anonymous]

All over the news today based on our dismal results. (regardless of how management spins it) Restructuring will cost 1.5 billion so it will be huge. Very little changes in the US. Emerging markets won't be hit. The US market particularly sales and marketing will take the biggest hit. Brothers and sisters prepare now. Best of luck to everyone.

Should be...very little changes in the UK....sorry for the confusion

 

[anonymous]

Yaaaawwwwnnnn! MORE doom & gloom! We are totally safe. The French Fuck doesn't even know we exist! Quit worrying about every little thing! Relaaaax! Chill! Enjoy life while you can! I met my spouse, and took in a movie this afternoon, and went for a milkshake afterward. Had a great time too! This time net year, I will be doing the same thing, working 3 hours a day, and having a ball!

 

[anonymous]

Yaaaawwwwnnnn! MORE doom & gloom! We are totally safe. The French Fuck doesn't even know we exist! Quit worrying about every little thing! Relaaaax! Chill! Enjoy life while you can! I met my spouse, and took in a movie this afternoon, and went for a milkshake afterward. Had a great time too! This time net year, I will be doing the same thing, working 3 hours a day, and having a ball!

I am with you Bud , but not this time , this is going to happen !

 

[anonymous]

Yaaaawwwwnnnn! MORE doom & gloom! We are totally safe. The French Fuck doesn't even know we exist! Quit worrying about every little thing! Relaaaax! Chill! Enjoy life while you can! I met my spouse, and took in a movie this afternoon, and went for a milkshake afterward. Had a great time too! This time net year, I will be doing the same thing, working 3 hours a day, and having a ball!

Even if we do have layoffs in the U.S., I'm sure the sales force will be impacted very little. Truth be told, they could fire 75%, easily, and not miss a beat. But they won't because the ripple effect all the way up the line would mean their sorry asses would be gone too! They need us! Nope, its business as usual!

 

[anonymous]

Even if we do have layoffs in the U.S., I'm sure the sales force will be impacted very little. Truth be told, they could fire 75%, easily, and not miss a beat. But they won't because the ripple effect all the way up the line would mean their sorry asses would be gone too! They need us! Nope, its business as usual!

Not this time. They are already eliminating people at the top. At least those that haven't already checked out. This is the big one that we all knew had to come some day.

 

[anonymous]

Even if we do have layoffs in the U.S., I'm sure the sales force will be impacted very little. Truth be told, they could fire 75%, easily, and not miss a beat. But they won't because the ripple effect all the way up the line would mean their sorry asses would be gone too! They need us! Nope, its business as usual!

This is already done , upper management has had no say in the matter , it's all done well above their pay grade . It's going to be bad , take it from a previous Roche - Genentech rep -Pascal cut primary and specialty by 80% when he was in charge - the hacket man was is nickname!

 

[anonymous]

Did you get a 1 or 2 in 2015? Not good
Did you get a 1 or 2 for the last two of three years? Really not good

 

[anonymous]

ZS and Associates determines headcount, not ratings. You will see great and not so great people let go.

 

[anonymous]

ZS and Associates determines headcount, not ratings. You will see great and not so great people let go.

This is very true. These massive layoffs are not managed by local management or company human resource departments and has nothing to do with performance. This layoff is about cost cutting and will be done by a non biased contract company who specializes in these types of restructurings. They realize that there is bias in allowing local management to influence who goes and who stays and those biases lead to lawsuits. This one will be strictly by the numbers with no interest in anything other than cost cutting and getting the numbers right.

 

[anonymous]

ZS and Associates determines headcount, not ratings. You will see great and not so great people let go.

Still trying to do the back-of-napkin maths. $1.5 billion restructuring charge, and annual savings of $1.1 billion? Suppose it cost $200k per employee for salary, benefits, legal costs, time spent on restructure consultants, other. A simple 1.1 billion divided by $200K = 5500. I think this is far greater than sales force. I wonder if it's closing buildings, exiting TA's? Maybe Wilmington is gone, or Ft Washington and diabetes goes away, or a manufacturing site or two are closed?

I have no idea, but I have a feeling that headcount is not the biggest change that is coming as the dollar values quotes are just too large.

 

[anonymous]

Still trying to do the back-of-napkin maths. $1.5 billion restructuring charge, and annual savings of $1.1 billion? Suppose it cost $200k per employee for salary, benefits, legal costs, time spent on restructure consultants, other. A simple 1.1 billion divided by $200K = 5500. I think this is far greater than sales force. I wonder if it's closing buildings, exiting TA's? Maybe Wilmington is gone, or Ft Washington and diabetes goes away, or a manufacturing site or two are closed?

I have no idea, but I have a feeling that headcount is not the biggest change that is coming as the dollar values quotes are just too large.

100% agree. Pascal not a fan of Wilmington. Could see a massive exodus from that site.

 

[anonymous]

100% agree. Pascal not a fan of Wilmington. Could see a massive exodus from that site.

Does Wilmington even need to exist? The corporation is run from the UK. Close everything there and you just saved a boatload of money.

The American sales force is actually quite lean. If you cut it much further how can you launch Bevespi and the future triple combo? That will be a huge product!

The hyperkalemia drug has 1 to 2 billion potential as well. You do still have to have sales people to launch a new drug. That is the one time when sales people are truly essential!

 

[anonymous]

Key facts stated by Pascal.
$1.1 billion in savings from cuts
Mostly outside of Britain
$1.5 billion restructuring one time cost
Mostly impacts the commercial and manufacturing areas
Oncology is the key focus for R&D
Cuts in staffing

You just can't look at what he said and not think that there won't be a lot of jobs gone by the end of next year, and probably sooner than later to start the cost savings. U.S. Reps know there are way too many of us, not to mention all the CSRs. Manufacturing, IT, home office, MAPS. If you were in charge of reducing a billion dollars in cost from the US operations what would you cut?

 

[anonymous]

This is very true. These massive layoffs are not managed by local management or company human resource departments and has nothing to do with performance. This layoff is about cost cutting and will be done by a non biased contract company who specializes in these types of restructurings. They realize that there is bias in allowing local management to influence who goes and who stays and those biases lead to lawsuits. This one will be strictly by the numbers with no interest in anything other than cost cutting and getting the numbers right.

This is absolutely accurate.