Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) said it will eliminate 1,200 U.S. sales jobs, about 15% of the drugmaker's sales force. This comes after last week the FDA rejected its experimental cholesterol pill Cordaptive.

The third-largest U.S. drugmaker has cut 8,100 jobs globally since the beginning of its restructuring plan, Plan to Win, in late 2005. But as Cordaptive, which was supposed to offset some of the losses Merck is expecting from generics coming into the market, fell through, the cost cutting side of the plan took on an added urgency.

Cordaptive and generics aren't Merck's only problem. The FDA also recently suggested its other cholesterol pills, Zetia and Vytorin, aren't any better than an older, cheaper treatment. Merck said it expects to lose as much as 61% of sales for these drugs.

So none of this comes as no surprise really; not in light of Merck's problems, and not in light of the industry's. Other drugmakers, including Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) have announced job cuts as they face more competition from generic substitutions. Merck is also planning some plant closures.

Merck's shares lost nearly 33% of their value year-to-date, as it was partly down with the overall market and partly due to the string of bad news that seemed to have hit most hard recently. It is trading not far from its 52-week low.

While Merck is saying it will still fight the FDA decision on Cordaptive and try to convince doctors about Vytorin, the actions it is taking seem reactive, not proactive. Without much to offer in its arsenal of upcoming possibilities, Merck, at least for now, seems to have lost the potential for meaningful growth.