Bayer reveals plans to slash 12,000 jobs; over 1,000 employees protest

By PharmaCompass

2018-12-06

Impressions: 75 Article

German drug major Bayer is pushing ahead with plans of a worldwide revamp that includes retrenching 12,000 employees the world over. Importantly, it plans to restructure its drug R&D business and cut 900 research staffers, with another 350 jobs likely to be slashed at a plant in Wuppertal (Germany).

The management is preparing to strike off 12,000 people between now and the end of 2021. And German employees are expected to bear a “significant part” of the job losses, the company said,

The 12,000 jobs represent just under a tenth of Bayer's current worldwide workforce. It operates in 79 countries.

The changes in R&D have reportedly been in the works for months. However, there is no word on which projects are threatened.

The emphasis in drug R&D will shift now, reducing in-house work while looking to external partners to carry out more load. “With the measures we are taking now, we will manage to raise the performance and profitability of Bayer in a sustainable manner,” the company's CEO Werner Baumann said.

The decision is intended to strengthen Bayer's “core life science businesses” and “to enhance productivity and innovation while significantly improving competitiveness,” the company said.

For the consumer health division, Bayer plans to get rid of sun-care line (Coppertone) and foot care products (Dr. Scholl’s), which “have more favorable development potential outside of Bayer.”

Meanwhile, over 1,000 employees of Bayer protested at the company’s site in Wuppertal, in western Germany this week. At least 350 of the 12,000 jobs are set to be taken from Bayer's biotechnology hub in Wuppertal, where the company canceled plans for a new plant to produce Factor VIII, a blood-clotting protein, despite the fact that the project was nearing completion.

Bayer also plans to sell off consumer products and exit the animal health business following its acquisition of Monsanto, which faces challenges of its own due to a blizzard of lawsuits.

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