Abbott Labs plans cost-cutting, 3,000 job losses as a result of Solvay integration

US health care giant Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) has announced a restructuring plan related to its $7.1 billion acquisition of Belgium firm Solvay’s pharmaceuticals business last year (The Pharma Letter September 28, 2009), following a thorough assessment of Solvay’s R&D portfolio, manufacturing operations, global support functions, and commercial organizations in line with Abbott’s global pharmaceutical strategy.

This plan, revealed in a Stock Exchange Commission filing, streamlines operations, improves efficiencies and reduces costs in certain Solvay sites and functions as well as in certain Abbott and Solvay commercial organizations in various countries, the company said, and is expected to include job losses of around 3,000, most of which will be in sales, manufacturing, R&D and corporate positions, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Abbott says that action plans have been identified and most are expected to be implemented within the next two years. The majority of the savings are targeted to be realized by 2012. This plan is expected to result in annual savings that have been contemplated in Abbott’s ongoing earnings-per-share accretion forecast for the Solvay acquisition as communicated when the acquisition was announced in September 2009.