Sanofi-Aventis Cuts U.S. Sales Staff

With generic-drug competition for its blood thinner Plavix around the corner, Sanofi-Aventis is cutting 25% of its U.S. pharmaceutical operations division, or about 1,700 sales positions, as part of a restructuring of the division. Furthermore, the U.S. pharma division will now focus solely on diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and oncology. About 13,000 people work for Sanofi in the U.S., 6,900 of whom are in the pharmaceutical operations division. Plavix, one of Sanofi’s top-selling drugs, with sales totaling $3.6 billion in 2009, is set to lose U.S. patent protection in 2012.