Johnson & Johnson has announced restructuring actions in its Medical Devices businesses to better serve the needs of customers and patients in today's evolving healthcare marketplace. The company is undertaking actions to strengthen its go-to-market model, accelerate the pace of innovation, further prioritize key platforms and geographies, and streamline operations while maintaining high quality standards.

The company's Consumer Medical Devices businesses, Vision Care and Diabetes Care, are not impacted by these actions.

The actions are expected to result in annualized pre-tax cost savings of $800 million to $1 billion, the majority of which is expected to be realized by the end of 2018, including approximately $200 million in 2016. The savings will provide the company with added flexibility and resources to fund investment in new growth opportunities and innovative solutions for customers and patients. 

In connection with its plans, the company expects to record pre-tax restructuring charges of approximately $2 billion to $2.4 billion, which will be treated as special items, of which approximately $600 million will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The company estimates that the actions announced today will result in position eliminations of  approximately 4 to 6% of the Medical Devices segment's global workforce over the next two years, subject to any consultation procedures in countries where required.