Pharmaceutical drug manufacture, Eli Lilly & Co. recently announced that it will soon be doing away with as many as 500 Indianapolis jobs. The company plans on abandoning its development of inhaled insulin thus making these positions unnecessary.

The termination of these Indianapolis jobs will effect those who work in manufacturing the insulin products Humalog and Humulin, along with those who work with the osteoporosis drug Forteo. Along with these positions, the company says they also plan to do away with some of its research and development jobs. Eli Lilly & Co. plans to reduce their staff numbers, if possible, through voluntary buyouts.

According to Edward Sagebiel, a company spokesperson, the layoffs will result in doing away with 4.2 percent of the Indianapolis jobs that the company offers. Over the last four years Lilly has decreased its worldwide employment by 5,500 people, or 12 percent. As of December 31st the company had 40,600 employees throughout the globe, 12,000 of which were located in Indianapolis.

He went on to say that there are several reasons for the necessity of the cuts. Between Lilly’s recent announcement that they will no longer be producing AIR insulin and improvements in how the company manufactures its pharmaceuticals, Sagebiel says that they can now meet the same demands with a smaller number of staff members.

Those employees that accept the buyouts will be leaving the company within the next three months.

Indiana’s March unemployment rate equaled that of the national average for the month at 5.1 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Overall statewide employment decreased by 1,100 jobs, falling from 2,986,500 to 2,985,400 workers. The decline was attributed to seasonally-low construction growth caused partially by bad weather along with troubles in the housing market and the loss of jobs in Indianapolis and elsewhere in the manufacturing industry.

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