Ouch
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business...l?cid=28810416
Are there some worried EFers out there?

Roche is not the only one to do so... also, some announce it officially, others don't or do restructuring when they let people go. based on the info I have, this is undergoing in a few pharma companies right now

yes there are some worried Efers!

Hope all is good for EFer

Well.. I'm 'involved' and not too worried.. they're being very open about where the jobs will be cut.. there'll 'only' be a net 'downsize' of around 500 jobs in Switzerland...

If you factor in natural attrition and hope that they make an effort to fill vacancies internally then, statistically, it's not too scary (if you're in Switzerland).

But hasn't Roche been hiring a lot lately? I must say I was a bit surprized when I heard it this morning since I have seen so many job-ads from them.

OK, hope it goes well for you. What brought it all about? I heard they couldn't get approval for a highly rated product, so a multi-million investment is practically down the drain. Is there any truth in that?

BTW ipoodle, I love your avatar

Again.. there's plenty of info in the public domain. There have been some set backs this year with Avastin not being approved for some forms of cancer and a diabetes product didn't make it through the trial processes.

But, on the other hand, the pipeline looks very promising and there's no looming 'patent cliff'.

Agreed, compared to the competition Roche is still looking very comfortable. And lets not forget that many of these changes come as a result of the mega-merger with Genentech last year. I know of companies who are still feeling the aftershocks of mergers almost a decade after the event.

True, ask almost anyone who works at GSK

Thats exactly the example I had in mind my first every job involved aligning compliance processes between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham back in 2003. We had a reunion in 2008 and the work was still ongoing, 8 years after the initial 2000 merger.

As part of this, they are completely closing the Burgdorf unit (formerly Disitronic). Some former neighbours of ours, the husband and wife both worked there in marketing and sales. Merry Christmas eh?

Was it not the plan to try and re-locate people within Roche?

All very well, unless you have a family and recently bought a house in the Fribourg area...

Well i sincerely hope so they will try and re-locate the people let go in different divisions.

I agree with you on family and just bought a house, yet Renting and being the sole provider of one has the same impact

Hi,

Do you know if the cuts are only in Basel or, are they also in US at Genetech? 500 jobs is pretty steep.

I think it's something in the region of 5000 or so people worldwide.

I was talking to someone working for Roche in the US, and he said that some of his colleagues had been informed yesterday that their services were no longer required. Fortunately, he wasn't on the list.

Interesting... normally I never hear about Roche but this is now the second time I come across it today...
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...the-1990s.aspx