Beyond that, officials would not specify how many cuts will occur at other facilities. The cuts come from operations (estimated 1,350) and sales and administration (3,750).
In a conference call with reporters, chief executive officer David Brennan said there would not be the same sort of big changes to R&D in Delaware, in part because previous cuts hit those facilities.
"Wilmington continues to be very important to us, especially in clinical development, and we expect it to be for the foreseeable future," Brennan said.
Monday's cuts are the third set of layoffs since 2007, and the three-part total amounts to 28,900. The two previous rounds of layoffs involved 12,600 and 9,000 employees, respectively.
Brennan indicated the company has 58,000 to 60,000 employees now.
In trying for greater cost efficiency, the company is reducing the regional management groups from five to three - North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.
Tony Zook, the executive vice president of global commercialization, said the Wilmington office would handle the North American regional chores, adding Canada and Latin America. The Wilmington office had cuts late in 2011. This shift will not greatly change the workforce in Wilmington, Zook said.
Officials predicted the cost for severance and closing facilities would be $2.1 billion, but they said they expected $1.6 billion in annual savings by the end of 2014.
AstraZeneca's 2011 full-year profit increased from $8 billion to $10 billion over 2010, but the 2011 fourth-quarter profit decreased from $1.6 billion to $1.5 billion compared with the same period last year.
The full-year revenue for 2011 was $33.6 billion, but the 1 percent increase over 2010 was helped by currency-exchange rates.
Brennan said that he expected "low, double-digit declines in revenue" for 2012.
