Mylan may lay off up to 3500 staff

US generic firm Mylan is set to lay off up to 3500 staff as part of a global restructuring programme.

The move comes after Mylan made a number of recent acquisitions, including the Swedish pharma company Meda for $7.2 billion (£5.8 billion) in August 2016. Back in 2015, the firm also bought out Abbott Laboratories in a $5.3 billion deal.

To streamline its operations, Mylan, which has 35,000 employees worldwide, is now introducing cost-cutting measures and estimates redundancies will hit ‘less than 10%’ of its workforce.

The announcement caps a rough year for the generic manufacturer. Mylan chief Heather Bresch was brought before US Congress to explain why the firm’s adrenaline injector, known as the Epipen, has undergone a drastic price hike in recent years. A branded Epipen twin-pack is now sold at $600, compared to just $100 a decade ago. The congressional grilling led Mylan to announce a generic Epipen two-pack will be sold at the reduced rate of $300.