The company also offered a downbeat outlook for its U.S. pharmaceutical business in the first quarter due to generic competition for four drugs and lost sales on a discontinued product.

Novartis said it would take a restructuring charge of about $450 million in the fourth quarter of this year because of the job cuts. The company had already announced in October that it would slash 1,260 jobs in U.S. pharmaceuticals marketing and sales. The new cuts represent about 2.5% of Novartis' global workforce.

Other major drug companies have announced job losses in recent weeks as the industry tightens its belt against generic competition following expirations of key drug patents. The list includes Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline.

"We have taken the opportunity given the short-term down-cycle in our pharmaceuticals business to initiate this project," Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Vasella said. "This will simplify our organization and redesign the way we operate."

Growth in the U.S. will be hurt by the loss of sales from bowel drug Zelnorm and generic competition for the company's Lamisil, Lotrel, Famvir and Trileptal drugs, the company said.

"We expect the first quarter to again be strongly negative, while there will be around zero growth in the second (quarter)," Vasella said on a conference call.

Novartis had said in October that its third-quarter earnings more than tripled from large divestments — including the sale of its Gerber baby foods and Medical Nutrition units to Nestle — but poor U.S. pharmaceuticals sales forced it to cut 1,260 American jobs and reorganize its divisional management. Without the divestments, Novartis' profit fell 12% in the third quarter.

The company has struggled with increased regulatory demands and stronger competition from generics in the United States. It says it has partly balanced these setbacks through strong growth in its vaccines and diagnostics division, and sales of its own generic drugs.

The company makes hypertension drug Diovan, leukemia drug Gleevec — known as Glivec in Europe — and breast cancer treatment Femara, among others.

The Basel-based pharmaceutical maker said Thursday that it would focus on engineering new drugs. It also said it would streamline its units and improve its sales force organization to begin expanding its presence in emerging markets such as Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.