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ASTRAZENECA will cut another 8000 jobs over the next four years as it looks to limit the damage caused by key drugs going off patent, lawsuits being filed in the US, and a projected fall in profit.

In 2007, the company trimmed its workforce by 12,600. The new $2b restructuring strategy will lead to losses among sales and marketing, supply chain operation and research and development staff. It has announced precisely where in its global operations these cuts will be made but company ceo David Brennan noted when it came to R&D that: “As the majority of our employees are in the UK, the US and Europe, you could expect more job cuts there.”

The news came as AstraZeneca reported that in 2009 revenue had grown year-on-year by 4% to $32.8b. It does not expect this growth trend will continue and says revenue could fall to $28b by 2014, due in part to the imminent loss of patent on two its top drugs. Both its asthma medication Pulmicort and breast cancer drug Arimidex lose exclusivity this year.

The situation is further compounded by an absence of new drugs in development. As its R&D pipeline is running dry and it is looking to cut R&D staff, Brennan is using the restructuring opportunity to outsource the company’s drugs development. Drug evaluations should follow according to medical experts, who argue that testing drugs externally would increase transparency. This view has been bolstered by a BBC report out earlier this week in which an AstraZEneca ex-employee said its marketing team urged him to suppress the claim that anti-psychotic treatment Seroquel causes weight gain.

In the US, a group of more than 10,000 lawsuits involving some 22,000 plaintiff groups are suing AstraZeneca, claiming it did not fully publicise the drug’s side effects. To date it has spent more than $650m defending the case though it hopes most will be covered by insurance. 

AstraZeneca’s results announcement caused its share price to fall by more than 3%.