Pharma Roundup: Glaxo's $400 Million Penalty, Cuts at AstraZeneca, and More

(MoneyWatch)  GSK to lose $400 million on legal challenge -- Legal action against GlaxoSmithKline, stemming from the state of Colorado's allegations of improper marketing on nine top products, will cost $400 million, the company has announced. The charge will appear in the fourth quarter results due in February. [Source: WSJ Health Blog]

AstraZeneca to cut thousands more jobs -- AZ has revised its cost-cutting plans and now expects to eliminate a further 7,400 positions by 2013. That puts the announced total around 15,000. [Source: FiercePharma]

Sepracor eliminates 940 Lunesta-related positions -- Now that popular sleep aid Lunesta is facing generic competition, the Massachusetts-based company that makes it will eliminate a mix of contract and salaried employees that support it. [Source: FierceBiotech]

Novartis exec predicts further consolidation -- Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis, says that he sees more Pfizer/Wyeth-scaled M&A activity for the industry, but that Novartis will focus on smaller acquisitions. [Source: The Financial Times, via Corey Nahman]