GSK confirms "hundreds" of U.S. job cuts as market gets tougher

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline confirmed on Wednesday it would shed several hundred U.S. commercial jobs and a similar number of research positions as it restructures operations in its biggest market, where drug sales are flagging.

Many of the jobs lost will be from GSK's Research Triangle Park site in North Carolina as drug research is consolidated in Philadelphia and in Stevenage, near London.

"This is a significant programme and will result in the loss of several hundred employees in the U.S. commercial business and a similar number in R&D activities based in the U.S.," a company spokesman said in an emailed statement.

Sources familiar with the matter said at the weekend the drugmaker would inform U.S. staff about the job cuts as it starts implementing a big cost-saving programme, following a sharp decline in sales of its top-selling lung drug Advair.

Britain's biggest drugmaker announced in October that the new restructuring scheme would save 1 billion pounds ($1.57 billion) in annual costs over three years, although it did not go into details at the time. 

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Martinne Geller)