Forest Laboratories says it plans to cut jobs as part of a plan to trim $500 million in costs over the next two years, and will buy back at least $400 million in company stock to boost shareholder returns.
The drugmaker also agreed to pay $240 million for the U.S. marketing rights to Saphris, a Merck & Co. drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania.
The moves come less than three months after former Bausch & Lomb leader Brenton Saunders replacing longtime CEO Howard Solomon at the helm of the drugmaker. Shares of Forest Laboratories Inc. rose $2.67, or over 5 percent, to $53.98 in morning trading.
The stock has been trading around six-year highs, and peaked at $54.13 earlier Monday — its highest price since May 2007.
The New York company said most of the spending cuts will be made by the end of March 2016. Forest said $110 million in savings will come from job cuts, but did not say how many positions would be cut. It had 5,800 employees as of March 31. The company did say that it won’t make cuts to staff responsible for filing for approval of important late-stage drugs.
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via Forest Labs to cut jobs in $500M restructuring – SFGate.
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