Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma Cuts 600-900 Drug Reps

Say farewell to your Flomax sales rep. It appears this was a quick decision, even though earnings were up a bit, but drugs coming off patent seem to be at the root of the layoffs. The company is headquartered in Germany with US offices in Connecticut. BD

Boehringer Ingelheim will ax between 600 and 900 pharmaceutical sales reps as the company heads over a generic cliff in 2010, according to Pharmagossip and CafePharma. Pharmagossip reported that “600 or more” reps got the ax in a Tuesday morning phone call.

That math means about 942 reps will be laid off. BI’s Q2 2009 earnings release hints at the reasons (in not-great English):

Due to important patent expiries, for instance for the drug Flomax® in the USA, Boehringer Ingelheim in 2010 is likely to see virtually no significant growth after ten years.