In a fourth series of cuts in six years, UK-based drug firm AstraZeneca said yesterday that it would cut 1,600 staff – 1,300 of whom are researchers, about 10% of the company’s current research capacity – in a restructuring plan that would see scientists concentrated in three major research sites: Cambridge, UK; Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Mölndal, Sweden.

As a rough estimate, that suggests that the firm has now announced cuts that slash its research capacity by 25% since 2006. (According to the latest investor presentation in February (see slide 127), and adding in yesterday’s announcement, the company will have cut some 8,000 research jobs, but regained 4,000 through re-investments including the acquisition of MedImmune; in turn, that suggests its research strength lay at around 16,000 scientists in 2006, and will drop to below 12,000 scientists in future).

AstraZeneca will do some some investing, putting in $500 million for a new facility in Cambridge, UK. But its $1.4 billion restructuring includes closing down all research at Alderley Park in Cheshire, UK. Last year, it shut down research sites in Södertälje, Sweden, and Montreal, Canada.

In January, the company said last year’s revenue was down 15% to $28 billion. Like much of the pharma industry, AstraZeneca is falling down the patent cliff. It is losing revenue as its best-selling drugs face generic competitors, including antipsychotic drug Seroquel, and in the US, ulcer treatment Nexium by the end of 2014 and cholesterol treatment Crestor by 2016.