NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Swiss health care company Roche said Wednesday it would cut 4,800 jobs over the next two years as part of its "Operation Excellence Program."
Roche said it hoped to save about $2.4 billion through 2012, primarily by cutting or adjusting 6% of its work force of 82,000 people.
In addition to the 4,800 job cuts, the company plans to transfer 800 jobs internally and transfer 700 jobs to "third parties," affecting some 6,300 jobs overall.
Most of the job cuts and transfers would occur in the pharmaceuticals division, primarily in sales, marketing and manufacturing.
In the United States., the company will cut 3,550 jobs. The cuts and other restructuring actions will affect facilities in California, Colorado, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Outside the United States, the reorganization will be focused in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
The company said it was "adapting cost structures to an increasingly challenging market environment."
Based in Basel, Roche is a drug developer focusing on cancer, virology, inflammation, metabolism and the central nervous system. 
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