BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB SA said Thursday it would shed some 2,000 staff worldwide -- nearly a fifth of its work force -- as revenues are expected to fall because of the expiration of exclusive patents for older medicines.
The company said it plans to refocus on central nervous system and immunology drugs and will free up some 300 million euros ($443 million) with a cost-cutting program that it hopes will simplify operations and advance research and development for new drugs.
"Patent expiries are challenging times," said chief executive Roch Doliveux. "The time is now to take action to shape UCB for the future and become a specialist company focused on successfully delivering our new medicines to patients."
UCB's exclusive U.S. patent for its main product, anti-epileptic drug Keppra, will expire next January when other drug makers will be able to produce the medicine.
The company also lost its U.S. patent for a hayfever drug at the end of 2007 which it blamed as one of the main factors behind a 37 percent drop in net profit to 108 million europs ($159 million) for the first six months of 2008 from the same period last year.
UCB also saw profits tumble last year as it counted the cost of integrating German rival Schwarz Pharma AG which it bought for 4.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in 2006.
It will cut 2,400 jobs while creating 400 new jobs -- leading to the loss of some 17 percent of its current staff. It will also redeploy 300 jobs to core locations.
Belgian media reported that some 550 of the 2,000 job losses would be at the company's two Belgian locations.
UCB recently won U.S. approval to sell a new drug, Cimzia, to treat Crohn's disease and got positive opinions from European medicine regulators for Neupro -- which treats restless legs syndrome -- and anti-epilepsy drug Vimpat.
Earlier this month the company said it expected revenues of 3.3 billion euros ($4.87 billion) for 2008, which would be down 8 percent from last year.
Other major pharmaceutical businesses are cutting costs and jobs as they lose their exclusive right to sell medicines they develop.
The high price tag of developing new drugs and the time it takes to win regulatory approval can make it hard to compensate those losses with new launches.
At the same time, EU and U.S. antitrust regulators allege that pharmaceutical companies may harm consumers by blocking competition from generic drug makers with a range of legal actions and agreements that stop rivals marketing cheaper versions after the original patents expire.
