Merck & Co plans to cut another 8,500 jobs.

Merck expects to realize $1 billion by the end of 2014. Most of savings are expected to come from marketing and administrative expenses and research and development. Company shares rose $1.13, or 2.4 percent, to close at $48.74. Merck’s stock is up about 19 percent this year.

Since early in the last decade, Merck has been steadily slashing jobs and announcing a new restructuring program every two or three years. After buying Schering-Plough Corp. in November 2009, the combined company had a total of about 100,000 jobs.

Last year, Merck’s top seller, the asthma and allergy treatment Singulair, got U.S. generic competition. This year, the company has been hurt by plunging sales for the migraine drug Maxalt, the baldness treatment Propecia and the allergy pill Clarinex.