Israeli drug giant to lay off 5,000 workers

Jerusalem, Oct 11: The world's biggest generic drugs manufacturer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will fire 10 percent of its workers worldwide, the Israeli-based company announced Thursday.

Most of the 5,000 employees will be fired by the end of 2014. The move will help Teva save $2 billion annually by 2017, compared to the previously guided range of $1.5-2 billion, reported Xinhua citing the company's statement.

Teva further mentioned that these steps were part of its " restructuring program, which was introduced in December 2012 and included actions to divest non-core assets, increase organisation effectiveness, improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce excess capacity".

IANS