AstraZeneca cuts 600 sales jobs in US, Bloomberg News reports

Nov 13 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has cut about 600 jobs from its respiratory and immunology commercial teams in the US as part of its three-year cost-savings initiative, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The cuts follow the UK-based drugmaker's late-October announcement that it planned to save about $1.5 billion annually and reinvest in its drug pipeline.

Some employees affected by the restructuring are expected to be reassigned within the company, Bloomberg reported.

The reductions come as AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot seeks to reassure investors that the company can meet its target of $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030, while drugmakers more broadly face growing scrutiny over the strength of their pipelines.

AstraZeneca's immunology and respiratory portfolio accounted for 16% of its third-quarter revenue at $2.5 billion.

AstraZeneca declined to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Unnamalai L in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Akshaya V; Editing by Leroy Leo and Tasim Zahid)