Roche Diagnostics ($RHHBY) is lopping off more jobs in its troubled diabetes division, reacting to another decline in sales and a worsening market for tests and meters.
As The Indianapolis Star reports, Roche is staying quiet on just how many positions it will shed but did confirm all of the layoffs will affect the company's Indiana diagnostics hub.
Thanks to pricing pressures and reimbursement cuts, the market for glucose monitors and testing strips has only gotten more bearish, and "Roche's diabetes care business in the U.S. is responding by making changes to its customer service and manufacturing operations, which includes the elimination of some jobs," the company said in a statement.
After the cuts, Roche will still employ more than 3,000 people in Indiana, the company told the Star, and the latest round of layoffs comes after Roche cut 100 jobs in October. That effort was coupled with a restructuring designed to streamline the diabetes business, keeping blood glucose test development in Indianapolis while shifting insulin pump R&D operations to Germany.
And while Roche is certainly being proactive, it's yet to see any change to its diabetes bottom line. In the first half of 2013, the Roche's diabetes revenue dropped another 5% over the previous year.
At the same time, the Swiss giant may be looking to unload part of the business en masse: In May, Reuters reported that Roche had begun shopping around its blood glucose meter business. But considering the lack of word since, it's unlikely any suitors took serious interest.
- read the Star story