Pharma’s bad jobs week gets worse: AstraZeneca to cut 700 U.S. positions

AstraZeneca’s $1.1 billion cost-cutting effort has taken its latest round of jobs. Facing the prospect of lower U.S. revenues next year, the company has pulled the trigger on “necessary, but difficult decisions” to chop 700 positions.AstraZeneca will eliminate the jobs throughout its U.S. commercial organization and North American headquarters in Wilmington, DE, where about 120 positions have been cut, according to a spokesperson. The remaining are field-based sales and nonsales jobs.“While these decisions are in the best interest of our future, this is a difficult time for our entire U.S. organization, particularly for the people who are directly impacted,” according to a company statement on Thursday. The cuts are specific to the U.S. commercial business