Posted on June 29, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Through the Looking Glass: Is the Fantasy Over For Pharma?

Being a biotech-focused person, I typically pay little attention to financial projections for the pharmaceutical industry. As many of you may know, the pharmaceutical industry has enjoyed unbridled growth, increasing profits and high stock prices for the past ten years or so. That said, I learned a few things about the pharmaceutical industry the other day that all jobseekers and current pharma employees ought to know.

First, the size of the worldwide pharmaceutical market in 2006 was approximately $608 billion (approximately one-third of the market was in the US). The overall growth of the industry in 2006 was around 8.0%. A large portion of the growth took place in the U.S (due to the introduction of Medicare Part D), Canada and Asia whereas the laggards were Europe and most notably Japan. Recent financial analyses indicate that the worldwide growth of the pharmaceutical industry is slowing in 2007 but is expected to be about 6.0%.

Second, this decrease in growth is expected to continue and it has been attributed to increasing use of generic pharmaceuticals (as compared with branded products) and a greater reliance by physicians on biotechnology products to treat chronic diseases. The Continue Reading...
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Posted on June 27, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

High Drug Co-Pays Contribute to Reduced Medical Care and Lost Employee Productivity....Duh!

The New York Times reported today that employers that shift too much of the cost of drugs to workers in their company health plans could wind up losing more than they save, through absenteeism and lost productivity, according to a study by health policy researchers. The three-year study looked at the medical histories of several thousand workers suffering from rheumatoid arthritis; a painful and incurable disease of the joints that can be treated by several monoclonal antibody-based biotechnology drugs and other treatments.

The cost, as much as $18,000 a year, can be a big expense for employer health plans. Still, putting too much of the cost burden on the employee can evidently backfire. Among the 17 employers in the study, conducted by the nonprofit Integrated Benefits Institute, more than half the workers with rheumatoid arthritis were not taking their drugs — in many cases because they considered the out-of-pocket co-payments too high. As a

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Posted on June 25, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

A Biotech Grows In Brooklyn?

Despite its outstanding universities, easy access to venture capital and the old refrain that says” if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” New York City and its surrounding metropolitan area are laggards when it comes to biotechnology start-up companies. Many biotech companies have been started in Westchester County, Long Island and Northern New Jersey but few have dared to “start up” in New York City itself. Sure, ImClone (the company that brought us Erbitux and Martha Stewart’s imprisonment) was started in NYC but eventually moved to New Jersey (like the rest of us). So what is the deal?

Historically, lack of space and high rents on available space were the limiting factors that prevented biotech companies from starting up in NYC. However, that all changed last August when New York city and state officials offered $54.5 million in subsidies toward creating a bioscience center at the Brooklyn Army Terminal affectionately known as BioBat. Officials said that the BioBat center would be designed for companies that had outgrown their incubator spaces (at various NY-based academic institutions) and wanted to stay in NYC but were unable or unwilling to pay Manhattan rents. Despite some Continue Reading...
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Posted on June 22, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Working As A Medical Writer

Some of you have heard me talk at career development symposia about the growing job opportunities for medical writers. As a freelance medical writer and medical communications contractor, I receive no fewer than 5 inquiries per week about my availability for medical writing work. It is great to be wanted but the truth of the matter is that there is a dearth of qualified medical writers out there!

A member of the American Medical Writers Association directed me to an article that was just published in Science Careers entitled “Working as a Medical Writer”. For those of you who want some insight into becoming a medical writer, I highly recommend that you read the article. It is well written and extremely informative. Also, for those of you who want to hear a little about medical writing from a bona fide medical writer, visit Emma Hitt’s Medical Writing website. Apparently, Emma, a seasoned medical communications writer, is willing to provide wannabe medical writers with some one-on-one time to discuss the “ins” and “outs” of the profession!

I highly recommend that if you are contemplating a career in medical writing that you act on it now….the job market will not remain this good forever!!!!!

Until next time…..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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Posted on June 18, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Continuing Medical Education: Is There a Dilemma?

Daniel Carlat, a Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts Medical School, blasted the continuing medical education (CME) industry in an Op-Ed piece published in the June 13, 2007 issue of the New York Times. For those of you who are not familiar with CME, all licensed US physicians are required to complete a certain number of accredited CME courses annually to maintain their medical licenses. In the past, CME courses were typically produced and financed by universities or medical associations However, over the past decade, much of the CME offered to physicians has been developed, paid for, and sponsored by drug companies. Over the past year or so, the US Office of Inspector General (OIG) developed guidelines that strictly forbid drug companies from underwriting or directly participating in the development of CME. Nevertheless, a loophole in the guidelines allows drug companies to give grants to medical communications companies to develop, organize and offer CME programs to physicians.

To that end, Dr Carlat asserts that: “Half of all continuing medical education courses in the United States are now paid for by drug companies, up from a third a decade ago. Because pharmaceutical companies now set much of the agenda for what doctors learn about drugs, crucial information about potential drug dangers is played down, to the detriment of patient care”. Although this may sound alarming, the unfortunate reality about CME is that it is simply too expensive for universities and medical associations to produce, organize and offer to physicians. The only organizations that have the expertise and largess to create CME content are the drug companies. With this in mind, Dr Carlat Continue Reading...
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Posted on June 15, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Pharmaceutical And Medical Technology Jobs Are On The Rise in New Jersey

According to a recent survey conducted by HeathCare Institute of New Jersey the pharmaceutical and medal technology industries remain two of the most reliable sources of high paying jobs in New Jersey.

Payroll in the two sectors rose slights to 61,971 jobs in 2006 and the average base salary for workers grew almost 4% to $97,500 per year. According to Healthcare Institute officials pharmaceutical companies plan $4.6 billion in construction in the state over the next two years. The slight increase in job growth last year was good news because payroll had been shrinking until 2005. Last year, New Jersey’s pharmaceutical and medical technology workforce was the largest it has been since 2003.

It appears that things may be looking up for those of you who would consider living in New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted on June 14, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Gee, It's Great to Be An American!

I read this fascinating Op-Ed piece in the New York Times today by Tyler Cowen, a Professor of Economics at George Mason University. The article focused on the unbridled entrepreneurial drive exhibited by many young Americans. Dr. Cowen attributed this drive and the growing abundance of young American entrepreneurs to: 1) The willingness of Americans to help/mentor strangers (as compared with friends), 2) A less disciplined and more flexible education system and 3) America’s pervasive culture of marketing.

In my opinion, people who grow up in America are inherently more entrepreneurial than those who grow up in other countries. Unfortunately, many Americans do not recognize that they possess this talent and, consequently, tend to minimize or take their entrepreneurial spirit for granted. To that end, I was once hired by an Australian biotechnology company to help them find American business partners so that they could  expand their Australia-based company into the US. I was a bit surprised that they hired

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Posted on June 8, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Former Pfizer Site Is For Sale

Pfizer Inc. has hired a company owned by former football player Roger Staubach to market a Michigan research campus the pharmaceutical giant plans to close.

Staubach Co. of Addison, Texas, will market Pfizer's 177-acre research campus in Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan, the New York drug company said. Pfizer said in January it would close the facility as part of a corporate restructuring that will cut 10,000 jobs worldwide and save $2 billion a year.

The Ann Arbor site employed 2,100 people at the time. Pfizer expects the number to be 400 by the end of the year, a spokesman told The Detroit News. The company began cutting 50 to 150 people, in two-week cycles, in May and will continue the layoffs through the rest of the summer, the newspaper said.


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Posted on June 8, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Question Authority with Peter Rost

I was reading Yahoo news and came upon an article that mentioned a blog called "Question Authority with Peter Rost".  For those of you who do not know Dr. Rost, he is a former pharmaceutical marketing executive who had the courage and conviction to speak out against some of the more odious marketing practices of his former employer.  Before he was fired, Dr. Rost condemned the off label marketing practices used to increase the sales of certain pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. He appeared on the CBS news program "60 Minutes" and gave many candid interviews with various news publications regarding the dark side of pharmaceutical and biotechnology marketing practices.

I had the opportunity to talk with Dr Rost at length several years ago when I was organizing a conference on  drug counterfeiting and re importation . I was very impressed with his forthrightness and kind manner. He is the author of two books entitled "The WolfPack" and "The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman".  Check em' out!

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Posted on June 6, 2007 by BioJobBlogger

Back to Basics

As you know, I recently started a new job at a medical communications firm.  Well, I resigned on Monday after only 3 weeks on the job.  The odd thing about medical communications companies is  that they communicate on behalf of their pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients but have problems with internal communications.  Go figure....

Luckily, my colleagues at my previous company graciously invited me back to work for them as a copy writer again.  They are a great bunch of folks and the corporate cafeteria is one of the best in the industry.  That said, I will have much more time to blog and to do my bioscience training and career development gigs.

I will keep you posted.

Until next time....

Good luck and Good Job Hunting.....

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