GlaxoSmithKline announced that it was planning redundancy of 850 jobs in Britain and US in the research and development sections for improving employee productivity and efficiency.

Glaxo employs 15,000 people in its R&D operations globally, of which 5,000 work at sites in London and Hertfordshire.

According to Glaxo’s spokeswoman the company had started consultations on cutting of jobs after reviewing its business operations. She added that it was a hard decision but the changes were aimed at longer-term strategy of investment in key areas of growth for making business more competitive in the challenging environment being faced by the pharmaceutical companies.

The spokeswoman informed that GSK was reshaping its R&D operations to exploit new scientific opportunities for improvement of productivity and this regrettably necessitated the reduction of jobs. She assured that the company would do everything possible to support those likely to be affected by the proposal.

Glaxo’s ex-chief executive Garnier had already outlined plans for massive savings of £700m by 2010. His successor Andrew Witty suggested a review of the company’s strategic priorities informing investors that the industry was facing numerous challenges since a large number of its products had lost patent protection, patients were expecting better medicines and financers were demanding cost-effective health care. He stressed that hard work was essential for obtaining bigger returns from investments on R&D.

Andrew Witty hoped that new priorities would evolve GSK into a balanced group of healthcare businesses.