GlaxoSmithKline chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier has indicated the company is likely to make large-scale cutbacks to its worldwide salesforce and redirect the savings into research.

Garnier said the company's salesforce was too large in some countries and that he "would like to take that money and spend it on research and development, not sales and administration".

The pressure on prices in the US has already led analysts to predict large-scale redundancies across the industry and GSK have confirmed 250 administrative job losses in the US.

Garnier believes that if Pfizer go ahead with its reported plans to cut a massive 10,000 jobs then it could spark an industry-wide cull, but stressed that GSK's different business needs meant it would not immediately follow suit.

Meanwhile, GSK reported full-year figures which have been severely dented by the weak dollar and generic competition.

Sales were down 5% at £20.3 billion and pre-tax profit down 3% at £6.2 billion.

The company, however, said that sales of its medicines were 1% higher than a year ago but had been hit by the weak dollar in the US, which accounts for the lion's share of the company's sales.

Generic competition hit the sales of its two best-selling antidepressants, with sales of Paxil falling by 13% to £1.1 billion while sales of Wellbutrin dropped 12% to £751 million.

But these were partially offset by rise in sales of its biggest selling drug, asthma treatment Seretide, which saw sales rise by 19% to £2.5 billion, making it the sixth-largest drug in the world.

New clinical data published next month is expected to give Seretide fresh impetus, indicating that patients taking the drug had almost 50% fewer asthma attacks than AstraZeneca's rival treatment Symbicort.

Diabetes drug Avandia/Avandamet continued to perform strongly, recording sales growth of 32% to £1.1 billion, matched by epilepsy and bipolar treatment Lamictal, which recorded 32% sales growth to £678 million.

Garnier said the company had come through a "difficult year" and stressed that 2005 would be crucial in terms of its R&D pipeline.

GSK said 12 of its products generated sales of more than £500 million last year and that 45 new chemical entities (NCE) are now in phase II trials, with clinical data expected on 15 of them in 2005.

The company will hope overactive bladder treatment Vesicare, which went on sale in the US in January, and Rotarix, its vaccine against gastroenteritis currently under EU approval will boost its earnings in the short to medium term.

GSK expects to file four other treatments with US regulators this year and hopes the new wave of products will recoup lost sales from its two flagship antidepressants.

pharmafocus@wiley.co.uk