Allergan to cut 1,500 jobs

Irvine, CA-Allergan has announced that, alongside its second-quarter financial results, it will reduce its workforce by about 1,500 employees-about 13% of its current global headcount-as part of efforts to boost stockholder value.

The company said Monday that the restructuring, along with other measures, would lead to savings of about $475 million in 2015.

The savings “will come from efficiencies and reductions in spend across the commercial organization, general and administrative functions, manufacturing and the research and development (R&D) organization,” the company said.

Allergan said the job cuts, along with the elimination of about 250 vacant positions, follow a review of its operations, including its portfolio of R&D projects. The company said that all pharmaceutical research programs in the clinic would continue, while any reductions in discovery programs “will not impact approvals within the strategic plan period” through 2019.

“With continuing strong momentum, Allergan recorded the strongest increase in absolute dollar sales in any quarter in our history, and again delivered sales and earnings per share growth above the high end of our expectations,” said David. E.I. Pyott, Allergan chief executive officer.

Allergan’s product sales in the second quarter rose 15.9% year-over-year to $1.8 billion, surpassing analyst estimates, while sales of Botox increased 12.9% to $579.4 million. Furthermore, net income reached $417.2 million, versus $359.9 million in the same period of last year.

For the full year, Allergan said it expects total product sales between $6.9 billion and $7.05 billion.

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