GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain's biggest pharmaceutical multinational, is to cut around 6,000 jobs around the world when it posts full-year results this week, a newspaper reported.
GSK is putting the finishing touches to redundancy plans as the pharmaceutical sector faces growing competition from generic manufacturers and doubts about company pipelines, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
ING financial sector analysts have warned of an "intellectual property meltdown" as top-selling products come off patent and sales slow dramatically, it said.
A second pharmaceutical multinational, AstraZeneca, said on Thursday that it will cut 15,000 staff by 2013, while industry leader Pfizer has acquired US rival Wyeth for $68 billion as it seeks a different route of consolidation.
Glaxo is the world's second biggest drugs company behind Pfizer, and employs about 100,000 people across the world.
The newspaper said the company's sales team in the US, where the business is expected to come under particular pressure from generics and a Democrat administration keen to push for lower prices, is likely to be cut back.