State aid is no cure for drug maker.

GlaxoSmithKline opted out of a 2005 state incentive agreement that would have paid it $1.4 million for creating 200 jobs at its plant in Zebulon and keeping them 10 years. Spokeswoman Stefanie Mendell says the British drug maker filled the jobs but can't keep all of them. It plans to cut about 70 in Zebulon, where it will still employ about 1,000. GSK employs about 6,000 in the Triangle, and more cuts could follow. It has been hurt by competition from generic drugs, unexpected regulatory delays and declining sales of its diabetes treatment Avandia--which is packaged in Zebulon--after a study last spring linked it to an increased risk of heart attack.