A Medical Device Daily

Allergan (Irvine, California), maker of the anti-wrinkle treatment Botox, said during its 4Q08 earnings report that it plans to cut 460 jobs, or about 5% of its global headcount, primarily in the U.S. and Europe. The company said its fourth-quarter profit dropped 6%.

Allergan said most of its layoffs will occur in U.S. and European operations, as the company focuses its resources on programs that produce the highest returns. The cuts will focus on U.S. urology sales and marketing employees and marketing staff in both the United States and Europe.

With the exception of the U.S. urology sales force and some low-productivity sales territories in Europe, no other sales force positions are affected, the company said. Modest reductions are being made in other functions as Allergan re-engineers its processes and increases productivity.

The company said it will take pretax charges of between $110 million and $117 million due to the restructuring. The charges will be incurred in this year's first quarter and will continue through 2009.

Allergan said profit in the quarter fell to $150.6 million, or 50 cents per share, from $160.3 million, or 52 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Allergan is a multi-specialty healthcare company that develops pharmaceuticals, biologics and medical devices. It currently employs more than 8,500 people worldwide.