Astellas Pharma announces European reorganisation

Astellas Pharma has announced plans to reorganise a number of segments within its European operations, including its development and sales and marketing units, in addition to other support functions.

Changes announced to boost the productivity of the business include the consolidation of development at the company’s Munich site into the Dutch site at Leiderdorp and a scaling down of the firm’s sale force in Germany.

Furthermore, the company will also integrate support staff functions currently located in Germany into the UK and the Netherlands.

Consultations between company management and Work Councils have been ongoing since February 2007 and have now been finalised, with Astellas Pharma stating that all changes have been agreed through a proper dialogue.

“As a result of the above changes, the number of employees across Europe will be reduced by more than 200,” the company reports.

The second-largest part of the company’s business, its European operations employs 3,300 staff and accounted for sales of 219.6 billion yen (915.5 million pounds) in the 2006 fiscal year.

In April, Astellas Pharma completed the restructuring of a number of its subsidiaries with the merger of its Astellas Tokai production subsidiary with its Astellas Shizuoka and Astellas Clinical Supply segments.