The announcement that up to 100 positions are being eliminated at Lundbeck's Danish research and development department was made to employees on Tuesday.

Union delegate Kim Rosenville Christensen was sad to hear the news.

"Of course, it is always a shame when we have to let our good colleagues go. Especially for a union delegate like me - you feel it personally," he says to MedWatch.

He heard about Lundbeck's intentions for the first time on Monday, when HR director Elise Hauge delivered the news at an extraordinary meeting of the company's collaboration committee.

The elimination of the Danish positions is happening as part of an international transition of Lundbeck's research and development department, and up to 60 positions outside of Denmark are also in the danger zone. Exactly how many positions will be eliminated is now being negotiated by the organization's Danish and European collaboration committees.

"The right thing to do"

Officially, the cuts are happening in an attempt to "improve the company's opportunities to strengthen and advance its portfolio of development projects" - an argument that may seem contradictory, but that group research director Johan Luthman explains by saying that the process will reduce the research and development capabilities within the older capabilities, that Lundbeck no longer sees big future potential in.

The transition comes after Lundbeck was forced to admit in April that two phase II drugs, based on what the company calls old chemistry, did not show the desired effect in clinical studies, meaning they will now increase their focus on newer biology.

According to Luthman, Lundbeck will also hire more employees within the areas that the company will focus on from now on.

"Personally - and this is just my opinion - I think it is the right thing to do," says Rosenville Christensen, who hopes that it will be possible to train some of the people affected, so that their competencies fit in with Lundbeck's future needs.

"Of course, we still need to have old-fashioned chemistry, but biology is also a part we want to get into our portfolio. So I think they have made a sensible decision. It is just such a shame that we need to consider people's competencies," he adds.

Hopes for clarity before the weekend

On Tuesday at 14:00, negotiations between Lundbeck leadership and the union delegates began, and the hope is that a solution can be found quickly. Three meetings have already been planned, and a deal will therefore be in place on Thursday at best.

"If we aren't finished after these three meetings, we will have one on Friday as well," says Rosenville Christensen, who expects the eventual firings to happen on Monday, even if a deal is reached on Thursday.

"We don't fire people on Friday and send them home for the weekend. We don't. That's how it has been previously, in any case," says the union delegate, who also participated in the negotiations in 2015, when CEO Kåre Schultz announced that 1,000 positions would be eliminated, 300 of which were in Denmark.

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