Johnson & Johnson to lay off up to 4,820

TRENTON - Johnson & Johnson said yesterday that it would reduce its worldwide workforce up to 4 percent, or up to 4,820 jobs, to cut costs.

The New Brunswick pharmaceutical and consumer-products company said it was acting because of a slump in sales of its heart stents and its second-biggest drug, plus coming patent expirations for key drugs.

The health-care giant, which employs about 120,500 people in 57 countries, said the restructuring - its largest ever - would bring pretax charges of $550 million to $750 million later this year.

The company said the moves should generate pretax, annual cost savings of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion next year and thereafter.

Johnson & Johnson said the restructuring primarily targeted Cordis Corp., its stent-making unit, and its pharmaceuticals segment, which soon will face generic competition for two of its top drugs. It did not specify which of its plants would be affected.

In the Philadelphia area, Johnson & Johnson employs about 2,000 people at McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, of Fort Washington, and about 2,500 at Centocor Inc., a Horsham biotechnology subsidiary that makes the rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remicade.

J&J's top seller, antipsychotic drug Risperdal, loses patent protection next June; Topamax, for epilepsy and other disorders, does so in March 2009. Risperdal and a newer, long-acting version - still patent-protected - together have annual sales of about $4 billion. Topamax has sales of about $2 billion.

During the 2007 second quarter, sales of J&J's key anemia drug, Procrit, formerly the company's best-selling drug, slid 6 percent to $758 million amid worries over safety concerns and possible limits on federal reimbursement for all drugs that stimulate red-blood-cell formation.

Since the fall, reports have raised safety questions about drug-coated stents, tiny mesh scaffolds that prop open heart arteries and slowly release a drug to keep them from reclogging. Among other things, research has shown most patients with drug-coated stents face a higher risk of heart attacks and death than patients with bare-metal stents.

In July, J&J said U.S. sales of its Cypher drug-coated stents fell 41 percent.

Johnson & Johnson shares rose 43 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $60.50 on the New York Stock Exchange. That was still near their 52-week low of $59.72.