Pfizer told Sky News it is ending its pharmaceutical sciences small molecule (PSSM) operations at its Sandwich site, which employs around 940 people.

It is part of a company-wide cost-cutting programme, Pfizer said, due to lower than expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccines and treatment.

Affected staff were notified in a brief announcement on Tuesday morning and redundancy consultations will take place over the next 45 days, according to a Pfizer staff member who worked in the PSSM unit.

Staff are expected to be given notice of their exit date in January, Sky News understands.

Of the 500 job losses, most are scientist roles but administrative roles are also being lost.

The PSSM unit makes medicine for clinical trials and helps scale up production of new drugs.

It is understood the roles will be moved to other sites in Chennai, India, and Connecticut in the US. Staff being made redundant at the Sandwich site will work on transition projects to those locations.

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A Pfizer staff member told Sky News that the Sandwich operation mostly works on tablets and some intravenous drugs - rather than vaccines and COVID drugs such as Paxlovid.

The majority of staff were surprised at the job cut announcement, the staff member said.

While job cuts were expected, staff thought 20% to 30% of the unit could be culled, rather than the entire PSSM operation in Sandwich.

"Various areas of Pfizer's global enterprise are making changes to operate more efficiently and effectively," a Pfizer spokesperson said.

"These changes will be implemented on a rolling basis and will differ area to area.

"More information around this global programme will be shared over the coming months and as part of the full year guidance for 2024.

Last month, Pfizer cut its revenue forecast by 13% and announced $3.5bn (£2.8bn) of cuts to jobs and expenses.

In previous years, however, record revenue was reported thanks to its development of a COVID-19 vaccine with German biotech company BioNTech.