Sanofi-Aventis announces cuts to U.S. workforce

NEW YORK Sanofi-Aventis is cutting a single-digit percentage of its 6,500-person sales staff in the United States.

The French drug maker, which has U.S. headquarters in Bridgewater, N.J., did not specify the exact number of people whom it will lay off.

Several large drug makers have recently let go thousands of employees worldwide and closed down research and development centers in the past several months in an attempt to increase profits.