Smith & Nephew, which employs 11,000 people worldwide including 1,200 in the UK, is to save £95m in costs over the next two years by cutting around 770 administrative jobs.

AstraZeneca is reducing headcount by 7,300 across its operations after revenue fell 2% to £22.2bn. Revenue in Western Europe fell 11% due to increased competition from generic drugs. It is not known which sites will be affected by the job cuts. The restructuring is expected to reduce costs and increase flexibility in functional areas.

AstraZeneca reorted revenue for the full year was down 2% at constant exchange rates at $33,591 million. Strong double-digit sales growth for Crestor, Seroquel XR and Symbicort; Emerging Markets revenue increased by 10%. Revenue performance reflects the loss of nearly $2 billion of revenue from generic competition, as well as a further $1 billion lost to the impact of government price interventions. David Brennan is Chief Executive Officer

Byotrol plc, the developer of anti microbial hygiene technologies, and partner Rentokil Initial Plc, have formally launched the UltraProtect range, powered by Byotrol, under a contract announced in July 2011. UltraProtect is a range of hand and surface sanitising products for commercial and public use, featuring a gel hand sanitiser, a foam hand sanitiser, and handy packs of hand and surface wipes. In addition, Byotrol has agreed terms for a six month extension of the Joint Development Agreement ('JDA') with their Fortune 150 partner company, for which Byotrol Consumer Products Limited will receive $300,000. Gary Millar is the Chief Executive of Byotrol Plc.