[srunni]

More on the cutbacks at Merck: http://endpts.com/merck-triggers-a-new-round-of-layoffs-in-r...

> Merck’s move follows a major trend in biopharma R&D, as the biggest companies concentrate more and more of their work in the big hubs. And virtually all of the major players have downsized at one time or another.

> Close to three years ago, Merck triggered a major reorganization in its R&D ranks, as the then new R&D chief Roger Perlmutter set in motion a plan that involved 8,500 layoffs, all of which were piled on a restructuring effort that was announced earlier.

> Those layoffs followed a years-long gap in significant new drug approvals and a string of clinical setbacks. Since then, though, Merck landed a landmark approval of Keytruda, now the number two checkpoint inhibitor on the blockbuster cancer market, along with an OK early this year for its hep C combo, Zepatier, which is being sold in a rival-infested field.