The last two weeks have seen a whirlwind of activity in EH. First, despite rumors to the contrary, the ALTITUDE data was a complete shock. Some of the prinicipal investigators had been feeding positive feedback to the brand over the past year and that's the inherent risk in anecdotal evidence. Novartis won't pull the brands from the market, but there will be some highly restrictive label changes before the end of the summer. There will not be any additional promotion of any aliskiren brand in the U.S.
Secondly, the last round of non-dislosure agreements were signed last Wednesday. Information will trickle out at this point and most will no longer be reliable. Here's what I can confirm: The general meds sales force will be reduced to 845. You will see some pods with 2 reps and some with 3. Managing Director headcount will be reduced from 28 down to 12. The FLM number is still in flux, but should land close to 86. This represents about a 60% reduction in the US and is the most significant personnel cut in the history of Novartis. In additon to the reductions, both the Dallas & Chicago OU offices will close. OU office based personnel will be mapped to field positions if they were in the field less than three prior to February 1, 2012. The specific dates for closure depends on lease termination fees and the support needed to manage the field based cuts. Most of this will be done before April. Cuts to other divisions will be limited, but the Neuroscience Division has been put on notice that they have 1 more year to make Fanapt profitable...or else!
The new nationally based sales organization will be lead by Scott Oehrlein. Chris Kaplan chose to leave rather than being re-assigned as the country head of Spain. Paul Gonsalvos will be given a golden handshake very soon.
Also, the Xolair team will not be launching Arcapta due to contractual obligations with Genentech. Instead, the TOBI division will promote Arcapta until the other combinations are available in 2013-2014.
As for the timelines, Joe Jimenez will report 4th QTR financial results on January 25th. At that point, he will also make "forward-looking" statements which will identify the depth of the cuts for the US. Announcements regarding the MD's will start the next week, followed by FLM & REP placement afterwards.
I wish I could provide some insight into the business rules being used to determine the field mappings, but that information was developed by ZS and it went straight to legal for review. For legal reasons, Novartis created a "Chinese Fire-Wall" which prohibits anyone outside of the mapping work-stream to have any access to that information. You simply won't know, until you know.
Severance details are sketchy now, but will be slightly better than those delivered at the end of 2010. Expect to be paid through April 30th with severance beginning May 1. Under 10 years of service, should expect two weeks of pay per year. Over 10 years of service, should expect three weeks of pay per year. "Rule of 80" will be used for retirement purposes. In other words, if your years of service plus your age are equal to or greater than 80, you'll qualify for a retirement benefit.
Good luck and God Bless!
Secondly, the last round of non-dislosure agreements were signed last Wednesday. Information will trickle out at this point and most will no longer be reliable. Here's what I can confirm: The general meds sales force will be reduced to 845. You will see some pods with 2 reps and some with 3. Managing Director headcount will be reduced from 28 down to 12. The FLM number is still in flux, but should land close to 86. This represents about a 60% reduction in the US and is the most significant personnel cut in the history of Novartis. In additon to the reductions, both the Dallas & Chicago OU offices will close. OU office based personnel will be mapped to field positions if they were in the field less than three prior to February 1, 2012. The specific dates for closure depends on lease termination fees and the support needed to manage the field based cuts. Most of this will be done before April. Cuts to other divisions will be limited, but the Neuroscience Division has been put on notice that they have 1 more year to make Fanapt profitable...or else!
The new nationally based sales organization will be lead by Scott Oehrlein. Chris Kaplan chose to leave rather than being re-assigned as the country head of Spain. Paul Gonsalvos will be given a golden handshake very soon.
Also, the Xolair team will not be launching Arcapta due to contractual obligations with Genentech. Instead, the TOBI division will promote Arcapta until the other combinations are available in 2013-2014.
As for the timelines, Joe Jimenez will report 4th QTR financial results on January 25th. At that point, he will also make "forward-looking" statements which will identify the depth of the cuts for the US. Announcements regarding the MD's will start the next week, followed by FLM & REP placement afterwards.
I wish I could provide some insight into the business rules being used to determine the field mappings, but that information was developed by ZS and it went straight to legal for review. For legal reasons, Novartis created a "Chinese Fire-Wall" which prohibits anyone outside of the mapping work-stream to have any access to that information. You simply won't know, until you know.
Severance details are sketchy now, but will be slightly better than those delivered at the end of 2010. Expect to be paid through April 30th with severance beginning May 1. Under 10 years of service, should expect two weeks of pay per year. Over 10 years of service, should expect three weeks of pay per year. "Rule of 80" will be used for retirement purposes. In other words, if your years of service plus your age are equal to or greater than 80, you'll qualify for a retirement benefit.
Good luck and God Bless!