RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline is laying off 650 workers in the U.S., including 100 people at its campus in RTP.

GSK spokesperson Mary Anne Rhyne confirmed the job cuts Wednesday afternoon, saying affected employees began meeting with supervisors about the layoffs earlier in the day.

Another 100 people are being laid off in Philadelphia.

The layoffs are part of a major restructuring announced in July by CEO Emma Walmsley.

Of the 550 job cuts that were disclosed in a mass layoff notice filed with the state of North Carolina, 450 are “field positions – mainly sales,” Rhyne said.

The 100 RTP jobs are “mainly back-office” positions for “support of people in the field,” she added.

Most of the layoffs are to take effect by Nov. 1.

No facilities are being closed, and GSK’s manufacturing operations are not affected by the layoffs, according to Rhyne.

GSK employs some 2,900 people in North Carolina with 2,000 of those in RTP.

“These changes are part of a major global restructuring program announced at our Q2 [quarter two financial] Results that aims to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of GSK’s cost base,” Rhyne added in a statement.

“In the US, we are facing several external and internal drivers of change as we look at our Pharma business over the next several years. Although we are growing, our aim is to deliver competitive growth and at the same time invest in our R&D ambition for the future.

“In some areas, we will be making reductions in positions and in others we will be changing the way we work. The savings from this restructuring will be fully reinvested in R&D and to support commercialization of new products, which will fuel innovation and our future growth.”

Workers are being offered severance packages, she added.

‘Not pulling out’

NCSU economist Dr. Mike Walden said the restructuring means GSK is not pulling out of RTP but getting more competitive. The layoffs don’t take away from the attractiveness of RTP, he added.

Walden pointed out that the job cuts are part of doing business.

Also, given the low national and state unemployment rates, Walden stressed that other jobs are available.

“If you’re going to be unemployed somewhere in the country, this is an excellent place because we’re one of the most dynamic, fastest growing regions in the country,” he said.

For these 100 people, it’s a great time to be unemployed with those skills, he told WRAL news.

More funds for R&D

The restructuring plan is expected to save GSK more than $500 million a year by 2021.

Rhyne said the cuts will help GSK funnel more money to research and development efforts.

“We remain committed to the US and continue to see it as a positive environment for future investments as we develop and deliver our next generation of innovative Oncology medicines and build capacity for our global vaccines business,” she added.

“We are committed to North Carolina and RTP. A substantial number of employees working in US Pharma, Global Manufacturing and Supply, and Global Support Functions (HR, IT) remain in the state.  RTP remains our largest commercial site in the US, and is the home base for Jack Bailey, our President of US Pharmaceuticals. RTP is also the US headquarters for ViiV Healthcare.”

ViiV focuses on HIV research and has a “substantial presence” in RTP, according to Rhyne.