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I want to state at the onset of this post that I am an ardent supporter of online patient communities because I believe that the exchange of information between people who suffer from the same or similar medical conditions is vital to their health and well being. Further, I believe that social media will force physicians, the medical community and the US healthcare system to become more transparent, open and interactive. That being said, in this past Sunday’s New York Times, Natasha Singer wrote an extremely revealing article about some possible, unforeseen “side effects” associated with membership in online patient communities.

The reason why these online communities exist is for patients to commiserate with one another and exchange personal stories and medical information. While personal stories may be emotionally satisfying for patients, it is their medical information and demographic data that is extremely valuable to drug makers. To that end, many online patient communities inform their members that they reserve the right to share information and data for research purposes. And many of them do!

To be clear, I am not suggesting that the people who create or manage online patient communities have avaricious, nefarious or otherwise unsavory ulterior motives for the medical and patient demographic data that they collect. However, these communities need to generate revenue in order to stay in business and drug makers are willing to pay for access to it.

According to Singer, the popular PatientsLikeMe community admits that it sells health and medical data gathered from member profiles (but with certain identifying information removed) to pharmaceutical companies and others for scientific and marketing research purposes. Further, a large number of unbranded “disease awareness” pages have recently begun to appear on Facebook and YouTube. In her article, Singer contends that “drug companies may pay people to moderate patient forums [in the community] or give testimonials but might not prominently display that fact to participants. Other sites collect consumer health data to help drug makers’ aim at specific kinds of consumers, using psychological cues.” At a medical communications meeting that I attended several years ago, a MySpace sales rep freely admitted to me that it allow pharmaceutical companies to mine profile data in order to develop targeted marketing campaigns. Is Facebook next?

Finally, while the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) restricts the way health care providers use and disseminate patients’ information, consumer health websites and online patient communities aren’t subject to its privacy provisions. In other words, there are no regulations guiding the privacy and use of medical information and data collected using social media tools! Essentially, this means that the persons who run online patient communities can do pretty much whatever they like with the medical and personal information that they collect!

As I stated at the beginning of the post, I am a social media enthusiast who subscribes to the notion that if used correctly, social media can help to better inform and improve the lives of people suffering from various disease. That said, I also believe that people who choose to participate in online communities MUST be fully informed about the potential uses of the personal information and data that they contribute. Until the Food and Drug Administration provides some regulatory guidance on the use social media to collect and disseminate medical information patients will be at the mercy of the entities that run online patient communities. Let’s hope that they see fit to “do the right thing.”

Until next time...

Good Luck and Be Careful What You Say Out There!!!!!!!!!

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It was only a matter of time before some company decided to attempt to commercialize a generic version of a therapeutic monoclonal antibody (MAb). The main barrier to entry to the biosimilar MAb market was the patent expiry dates for the first generation of therapeutic MAbs (most were commercialized in the early 1990s and have patent protection until 2018 or longer). The recent health-care overhaul law signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year permits U.S. regulators to approve biosimilar versions of branded biologic drugs and paves the way for commercialization of biosimilar MAbs (and other biologics) in the US.

This past Monday Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest generic prescription drug manufacturer, announced its plans to commercialize a generic version of Rituxan (rituximab), Roche’s blockbuster MAb used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia and certain forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Rituxan has patent protection in the U.S. until 2018 and in the rest of the world through 2013. According to the announcement, Teva joined worked with the biomanufacturing giant Lonza to produce sufficient quantities of generic Rituxan for clinical development.

Earlier this month Teva began recruiting patients with rheumatoid arthritis for a clinical trial comparing its biosimilar copy, TL011, with the Roche drug, sold outside the U.S. as MabThera. Teva and Lonza are focusing on monoclonal antibodies, and aim to gain regulatory approval for their first product by the end of 2014 said a Lonza spokesman.

Rituxan generated $5.24 billion in sales last year. Indian generic-drug maker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. began selling a new version of Rituxan in India in 2007 which had $4.2 million in sales in 2009. Interestingly, the size of the biosimilar MAb market is predicted to be much larger than that for therapeutic proteins like Epogen, Neupogen, Avonex and other therapeutically-active proteins.

What will be the next branded MAb-based product to succumb to the biosimilar encroachment? Only time will tell.....

Until next time...

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

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It is becoming  increasingly difficult for undergraduate and graduate students to secure entry-level jobs at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. This is because these students lack the appropriate training and qualifications for entry-level jobs at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Unfortunately, most undergraduate and graduate programs do not offer training to their students in drug development, quality systems and manufacturing. The is likely due to: 1) lack of well informed and qualified faculty members to initiate and develop specialized curricula on these topics and 2) a belief that job training is the responsibility of prospective employers, not academic researchers. Unless substantive curricular change is made to existing academic programs, the road to employment for many students will continue to be bumpy and fraught with difficulty.

In contrast with academic research, industrial research is highly regulated and guided by legally-enforceable rules and regulations, e.g., Current Good Laboratory Practices (cGLP), Current Good Clinical Practices (cGCP) and Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). These rules and guidelines were created by regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the development of safe and efficacious products. In recent years, the FDA has begun to enforce these rules and regulations more strictly. As a result, many life sciences companies now require that prospective employees understand cGLP, cGCP and cGMP guidelines and how to apply them in industrial laboratory settings. Because these rules and regulations are specific to industry and relatively unknown in academia, most academically-trained job candidates fail to qualify for these industrial jobs. Finally, over the past five years, there has been a growing emphasize on the importance of so-called "soft skills" e.g., good oral written and communication skills, teamwork, professional behavior, etc. in existing and prospective employees. These skills are increasingly important as life sciences companies grow larger, more diverse, and increasingly multidisciplinary in their approach to drug discovery and development.

Unfortunately, few academic programs develop these skills in a systematic way; this failure hinders the ability of students to obtain industrial jobs. Although the transition from academia to industry can be difficult, students can do several things to improve their odds. First, take advantage of available resources in preparing your resume and learning how to interview for an industrial position. A well written, carefully crafted resume can result in an interview, and a professional interviewing style can increase the likelihood of a job offer.

Working with a skilled and well-connected professional recruiter may also increase the probability of securing an industrial job. Second, many community colleges and several companies now offer specialized training in quality systems, regulatory affairs (cGLP, cGMP and cGCP) and other areas.

Finally, there is no better way to get an industrial job than to have previous industrial experience. To get industrial experience, seek out training opportunities that include an industry internship as part of the curriculum. Some biotech and pharmaceutical companies may offer volunteer opportunities, and some have postdoctoral positions.

Until next time...

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

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We scientists tend to be a serious bunch who often hard on difficult projects with lofty goals and expectations. However, like most other people, many of us have well developed senses of humor and enjoy a good laugh from time to time.

While working on my recent post on pharma and social media, I came across a post on Wendy Blackburn's blog, epharma Rx, that showcased a clever and well-crafted video created by her agency InTouchSolutions to help pharma companies overcome fears about social media.  I think BioJobBlog readers will enjoy it because it uses scientific principles (presumably understood by life sciences companies employees) to poke fun and educate pharma executives about social media 

Hat tip to Wendy and the InTouchSolutions Team

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Viewing!!!!!!!

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Earlier this week, I attended Advanced Learning Institute’s (ALI) conference “Social Media and Pharma” that was held in Princeton, NJ. The conference was chaired and expertly moderated by Bill Evans, a Senior Vice President and Partner, Digital at Fleishman Hillard. Bill’s insights and command of the social media space were outstanding and helped to keep the conference moving forward and always on point (he also knows a lot about selling old iPhone on EBay—thanks Bill). 

All of the talks that I attended were outstanding and I have to say that the conference was one of the best organized and most focused conferences on the topic of social media and pharma that I attended to date! This is because Bill, a former technology turned business guy, organized the meeting around a conversational “how to” theme rather than allow presenters to talk about their cool Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and blogs. Instead, he asked presenters to share with conference participants their ideas, strategies and experiences associated with implementation of their social media campaigns and programs. 

Two of my favorite presentations were delivered by pharma companies; Pfizer and Novo Nordisk. This was somewhat surprising because historically many pharma companies had to be reluctantly forced into the social media fracas.

The Pfizer presentation, “A Common Sense Approach for Integrating Social Media into Your Traditional Communications and Marketing Plans: A Roadmap for Success” was skillfully delivered by Paul Dyer from WCG (the agency that worked with Pfizer on its social media campaign) and Pfizer’s Kate Bird. Paul, who previously worked with social media in the consumer product industry, offered more facts and statistics that I ever knew existed for social media. With this as a backdrop, Kate went on to describe how Pfizer, a late entrant to the social media scene, leveraged this information to create one of the better social media campaigns launched to date by a pharmaceutical company.

The Novo Nordisk presentation, “How to Use Twitter to Deliver Measurable Results For Your Organization” was delivered by Lois Kotkoskie and Ambre Morley was a veritable road map on how to use Twitter to delivered branded messages about pharmaceutical products. For those of you who may not know, Novo Nordisk is the only company to date that has delivered a so-called “branded pharmaceutical tweet” in the Twitterverse. The now infamous tweet about Novo’s diabetes product Levemir s was delivered by race car driver and Novo spokesperson Charlie Kimball.

Despite this bold and unprecedented foray into branded pharmaceutical tweets, Novo hasn’t yet run afoul of regulators at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) This is because Ambre, who is a marketing and PR professional, understood early on in the process, that in order to succeed and stay off of FDA’s radar, she would have to work closely her company’s regulatory affairs department. This is where Lois came in; she is a bona fide pharmaceutical regulatory affairs expert who in addition to her understanding of the arcane regulations guiding pharmaceutical advertising, has a well-developed sense of humor (frequently absent in pharmaceutical regulators) and is seemingly less risk-adverse than a majority of her peers.

It was easy to see that Ambre and Lois work very well together (sometimes I thought I was watching an Abbott and Costello comedy routine). Undoubtedly this is the likely reason why Novo’s diabetes-focused Twitter campaign was so well crafted, executed and in the end, successful. The take away lesson from the Novo experience is that pharma marketing and communication professionals interested in designing and implementing regulatory-compliant social media campaigns must include legal and regulatory representatives in the discussion.

Honorable mentions go to the presentations offered by Ken Rashbaum, Doug Levy and Peter Pitts who mainly talked about some of the legal, regulatory and privacy concerns voiced by pharmaceutical companies about the use of social media. An important issue that nobody at the meeting was prepared to discuss was the possible use of social media for pharmaceutical adverse event (AE) reporting. Generally speaking, conference participants were reticent to address this issue because most thought it would be difficult to have meaningful discussion in the absence of any regulatory guidance on this topic.

As many of you may know, the FDA held public hearings on the use of social media for various purposes in the life sciences industry late last fall. At present, it isn’t clear when the agency will issue that much anticipated guidance.

This past week’s “Social Media and Pharma” conference was the second event produced by ALI on this topic. Based on the attendance and enthusiastic response to the meeting, I suspect that ALI may be planning future events on social media and pharma. If this proves to be the case, then I highly recommend that you attend one or more of them!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!!!!!

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While attending the Advanced Learning Institute conference “Social Media and Pharma” earlier this week I happened to sit down next to Laura Lindsay, a member of Tarrytown, NY-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ corporate communications team. Not surprisingly, we struck up a conversation and I learned that unlike most pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies Regeneron is looking to hire 500 new employee over the next year or so. Yes, you heard it correctly: 500 NEW EMPLOYEES. The company currently employs about 1,200 people.

Regeneron’s hiring spree is largely based on a lucrative research relationship with its partner Sanofi-Aventis and pending positive results from three Phase III clinical trials for several drugs that the company is developing to treat colon cancer, gout and macular degeneration. Industry analysts predict that approval of any or all of the three new drugs may allow Regeneron to Its products could eventually take on Roche Holding AG's $6 billion cancer drug, Avastin, and $3 billion Lucentis eye-disease medicine. The gout drug could attract annual sales of $500 million or more, analysts estimate.

Regeneron is currently not profitable and has one of the largest research budgets (in excess of $700 million) in the biotechnology industry. The 20 year old company sells only one product called Arcalyst; which was approved to treat rare genetic conditions such as Familial Cold Auto-inflammatory Syndrome (FCAS) or Muckle-Wells Syndrome (MWS). Arcalyst annually generates about $20 million in sales. Its current market capitalization is about $2.0 billion. Interestingly, I used to occasionally hang out with one of the company’s founders while I was a postdoc at Columbia Medical School.

While I don’t exactly know what types of jobs are available at Regeneron, you can easily find out for yourselves by visiting the company’s job search center. To learn more about Regeneron please click here.

If anybody out there knows of other life sciences companies that are hiring, please send me the information and I will post it!

Hat tip to Laura for the heads up!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (maybe things are really starting to turn around)!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I just received an unsolicited note from the folks who run a blog call the BioBloggingProject which is sponsored by a group called Masters in Biotechnology. While I am always flattered to make a top anything list, the new list is almost identical the old one that BioJobBlog was previously listed on. Interestingly, BioJobBlog moved up about 20 positions from no. 30 to no. 11. Does this mean that the writing has improved that much at BioJobBlog over the past two months since the first list appeared? The point of this diatribe is that if you are going to re-purpose a list to get BioJobBlog’s attention, would you at least place the blog in the top 10 blogs on the list? But, I digress... 

I am not sure whether or not the folks who run the BioBloggingProject realize that they have violated one of the cardinal rules of social media—never post re-purposed or duplicated content on a blog if you want it to be considered a serious source of information. The use of this type of contents suggests that the authors of a blog may be unoriginal, uncreative or too lazy to think about or write original material.

I think that the BioBloggingProject sounds like a good idea (whatever its purpose it). However, if it wants to be taken seriously as a credible source of biotechnology information, then I strongly recommend that its authors learn the rules of the blogosphere and abide by them as best they can!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Blogging!!!

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Astellas, Japan’s second largest pharmaceutical company, yesterday announced that it will hire at least 300 new pharma sales reps in China as part of its ambitious plan to increase its global revenue stream by 17 per cent over the next five years.

Documents released by the company indicate that it expects sales to double in China by March, 2015 emphasizing the fact that emerging markets will likely drive the future growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Astellas hopes to expand the indications for Prograf, its top selling organ transplantation medication to include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus nephritis, ulcerative colitis and myasthenia gravis.

Earlier this month, Astellas revealed that it would purchase NY-based OSI pharmaceuticals for $4.0 billion. The purchase will provide Astellas with its first approved cancer drug (OSI’s Tarceva) and allow Astellas to establish a firmer footing in the US pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets.

Total worldwide net sales of Tarceva for 2009, were approximately $1.2 billion and OSI's share of those revenues were $359 million. In the first quarter of 2010, Tarceva sales grew 10%

While hiring 300 reps in China may be good for the Chinese economy, the OSI deal will likely result in job cuts and further exacerbate the growing unemployment rate in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region.

Unlike the US, there seems to be a growing need for pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D and sales employees in China and other parts of Asia. To that end, I hear that Beijing and Shanghai are lovely this time of year!!!!

Until next time...

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

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There is ample anecdotal evidence to suggest that using social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook may help to improve your chances of landing a new job. For example, a recent article that appeared in Time Magazine recounts the story of an individual who lost and subsequently found a job in 11 days using a job search strategy based exclusively on social media. While social media tools are still evolving, social media has become part of the fabric of every day modern life. Therefore, it makes sense that social media may be useful when using it to find a job. 

In previous posts on this blog, I recommended using a variety of social media strategies when conducting a job search. However, like any other technology tools, if social media is not not used or managed correctly it may backfire and give you less than anticipated results. To that end, the folks over at Online Degree send me a post entitled “The 10 Worst Social Media Mistakes that Will Prevent You from Landing a Job.” 

Although some of the tips and ideas may be obvious to some, many jobseekers have little or no understanding of what is acceptable when conducting a social media or traditional job search. I highly recommend that you heed the advice offered here--it may very well make a difference between gainful employment and living at home with your parents or relatives!

1. Don’t Be That Guy : We all have at least one social media friend who shares him or herself too much. Things like realtors putting up each new listing, every sale a business has, or constant reminders on the same event can be as off putting to an employer as it is to a friend. If using your social media account to promote your work, be thoughtful of other people’s time. Chris Brogan has an excellent rule of one promotional update for every 15 casual ones. Check out his blog for more useful moves.

2. Use it or Lose It : Twitter and other sites are essentially a blank canvas. Don’t let them go to waste by using the same backgrounds and graphics as anyone else. Use the opportunity to showcase photos, art, events, logos, and anything else that will make you stand out. Mashable has a great guide on how and why to create a custom Twitter background. For inspiration, click here to see many successful attempts at creating memorable, yet simple backgrounds.

3. You Can Have Too Many Friends : Too many friends and followers actually can be a bad thing. While real people with real accounts are a plus, the more popular an application becomes, the more likely it is to be subject to hacking. Both Facebook and Twitter have had troubles with phishing such as Zombie and Twply. Gullibility does not make you attractive to an employer. Better to have 100 actual friends/followers, than 200 phony ones, both in social media and IRL.

4. Don’t Down the Updates : So you just got a new gadget and it rocks? Or was the sushi overpriced and stale? Did your kid just do the cutest thing? Now think about if a potential employer wants to read every detail about the above. While short, incisive updates are appreciated and even admired, they can also do the opposite. Have a look at this list to see the worst status updates and delete them before they prevent you from landing a job.

5. Sir Mix-A-Little : With social media becoming more and more popular, you likely have more than one account. While there is nothing wrong with having a Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn account all at once, mixing them can be a problem. In an amazingly well thought out article, Nicky Jameson discusses the pitfalls of mixing social media business and pleasure. If still unsure, check out #10 on this list.

6. Too Little of a Good Thing : Now that you have social media account and know how not to update too much, don’t go the other route. Too few updates can show lack of commitment and general spazziness. Updates that come once a month, or even once a week, can be too few. However, with loads to do and little time to do it in, updates can be challenging. Visit this link to get a guide to FeedMyTwitter. It can auto post pre-written updates on the date, category, and more of your choosing.

7. Drive a Manual : Automatic DM’s may be useful to some people when used correctly, but a misstep can hurt those looking to avoid mistakes. If a prospective employer has the courtesy to follow or friend you, thank them properly. A generic “thank you" is just as insulting as it sounds. Write one yourself, make it personal, and stand out just a little more. This site shows you how to disable Auto DM on Twitter.

8. Spelling Isn’t Just for Bees : Yes, its social media and, yes, there is a certain sense of informality. However, especially if going for a writing or editing job, any spelling or grammar mistake can prevent you from landing it. If your browser has a spell check, use it. Even if it does, don’t turn the spell check in your noggin off even if you’re writing about your favorite restaurant. This article from Scrawlbug lists eight stupid spelling mistakes that happen more often than you think.

9. Spam is for Canned Meat : If someone does check your account, an overload of spam cannot only be off-putting; it can also show that you have little technical knowledge. A potential boss can only assume that you will behave the same and subject the whole office to lottery scams and the like. To prevent from making this social media mistake that will prevent you from landing a job, learn the in’s and out’s of your account. This site is entirely devoted to stopping spam on Twitter.

10. You Got to Keep ‘Em Separated : Love your Facebook, Twitter, etc. accounts and will censor them for no one? Go for it. That’s one of the reasons why the internet invented multiple accounts. Simply use one for all of the professional stuff with your proper name, pictures, messages, and such. All the intimate stuff can appear on another account under the nickname of your choice. Visit this link to see a quick and easy way to set up two accounts on the same computer with no problem.

Hat tip to Onlinedegree.net.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting on Twitter and Facebook

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It is no secret that growth of the pharmaceutical industry has slowed to single digits in the past five years or more. In fact, many experts don’t expect there to be double digit growth in this sector for a long time. Instead, future robust growth of the pharmaceutical industry is expected to take place in emerging markets including India, China, Brazil, South Africa and others. This is because the economies of these countries are booming and the middle class in these nations continues to rapidly grow. 

While branded prescriptions drugs once dominated Western markets, it is likely that generics or branded generic products will be the major players in emerging markets. Because of this, big pharma companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Daiichi Sankyo and most recently Abbott Laboratories have either purchased or crafted large marketing deals with smaller regional drug manufacturers.

Daiichi Sankyo paid $4.0 billion in 2008 for a major share of India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories and GlaxoSmithKline earlier this year acquired exclusive rights to over 100 products produced by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, another Indian drug maker with a broad reach in emerging markets.

Today, Abbott Laboratories announced that it would purchase the healthcare business of Piramal Healthcare Ltd, one of India’s largest purveyors of branded generics for $3.72 billion. When the deal closes, Abbott will inherit the rights to about 350 brands and trademarks and a manufacturing plant in northern India. Also, Piramal agreed to a six year non-compete agreement for branded generics. The remaining parts of Piramal include a custom manufacturing business, over-the-counter products, vitamins, diagnostic devices and Piramal Life Sciences a drug discovery company.

The company, which has India’s largest sales force, would become a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories and employ about 7,500 workers. Last week, Abbott said it would license at least 24 products from Zydus Cadila to sell in emerging markets. Analysts estimate that emerging markets account for 20 percent of Abbott’s business. The Piramal and Zydus Cadila deals suggest that Abbott maybe the company to reckon with in emerging markets in India and elsewhere.

 Until next time...

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

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Despite claims of its imminent demise, it appears that social media and all of its trappings are being embraced by the masses. According to a report issued last week by CTIA, the wireless industry association, the amount of data, in text, music e-mail and other activities surpassed voice calls on mobile devices in 2009 (this explains why you cannot purchase 95 per cent of Verizon Wireless phones without a mandatory $9.99 per month data plan).

While there is little difference between the number of cell phone subscribers in 2009 and 2010, the number of users going online is up across all Web categories. Most notably, visitors to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Four Square increased 78 percent. However, a troubling trend is that 46 per cent more users are visiting reference sites like Answer.com or Wikipedia for information. Although these sites are excellent resources, it isn’t clear whether or not all entries have been adequately researched and thoroughly vetted.

The meteoric rise of social media over the past five years has caused many e analysts and media pundits to suggest that the frenzy may be abating and the death of social media may be near. However, the beauty of Web 2.0 as it metamorphoses into Web 3.0 (are we there yet?) is that social media tools and their acceptance are extremely unpredictable. Who would have thought two years ago that Twitter, the upstart microblogging platform would be currently challenging Facebook for social media supremacy. Another social media platform to watch is Foursquare. While I don’t “get” the popularity of Foursquare, I also didn’t get Twitter until I started regularly using it!

Finally, as Mark Twain wrote many years ago after reading his obituary in a newspaper “"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” so too are the premature assertions that social media may be dead.

Until next time…

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

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Looking back on my career, I don’t think I would have done many things differently; except one. That is, I wouldn’t have listened as much to the advice of others who I thought knew (better than me) about what I should do with the rest of my life. Don’t get wrong, it is important to listen to what others think and the advice that they offer but—at the end of the day —the career path that you choose must be something that you like or perhaps even love to do!   This sentiment was clearly and cleverly expressed in a recent interview with Steve Hannah, CEO of the hugely popular satirical magazine The Onion.

When asked by the interviewer “What is your career advice to somebody just graduating from college?” He replied:

“Find what you really love to do and then go after it — relentlessly. And don’t fret about the money. Because what you love to do is quite likely what you’re good at. And what you’re good at will likely bring you financial reward eventually.

I’ve seen too many people who have plotted a career, and often what’s at the heart of all that plotting is nothing other than a stack of dollar bills. You need to be happy in order to be good, and you need to be good in order to succeed. And when you succeed, there’s a good chance you’ll get paid.”

At the conclusion of my 'Alternate Career Paths: Taking the Path Less Traveled' seminar, I always advise participants to “follow the advice of your heart.” Interestingly, this bit of wisdom was delivered to me via a fortune cookie that I had eaten after a great meal at my local Chinese takeout place while I was working as a postdoc and living in Manhattan. 

I still have the fortune and, while I didn’t appreciate or understand it at the time, it has become the credo by which I try to live my life. As corny as the saying may be, it has served me well over the course of somewhat circuitous and often times questionable career path. And, like Steve Hannah, I have always found that when I am passionate about something, and pursue it relentlessly, good things tend to happen. 

So, for what it is worth, those of you who may be thinking about alternate career paths I say: go for it. The worst thing that may happen is that it doesn’t work out or you may fail. But, the one thing that I have come to know is that I have learned more from my failures than I ever have from my successes!

Until next time...

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

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After eliminating thousands of R&D and sales and marketing jobs, Pfizer announced that it will shed 6,000 manufacturing jobs. According to a post on the Pharmalot blog, Pfizer will close eight plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico and the US by the end of 2015, and also reduce operations at six other facilities in Germany, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the UK and the US.

Pfizer operates 78 plants internationally and employs about 116,000 people.

Sites to be closed include:
• Caguas, Puerto Rico (solid-dose)
• Carolina, Puerto Rico (aseptic)
• Dublin, Ireland (aseptic)
• Loughbeg, Ireland (solid-dose)
• Shanbally, Ireland (biotechnology)
• Rouses Point, N.Y. (solid-dose)
• Richmond, Virginia (consumer healthcare manufacturing targeted for exit; R&D operations to remain in Richmond)
• Pearl River, N.Y. (proposed exit of biotech and consumer healthcare manufacturing; vaccines and biotherapeutics vaccines R&D will remain active here)

Recommended plant reductions:
• Guayama, Puerto Rico (phase-out of pharmaceutical solid dose operations planned; volume increases in consumer hhealthcare)
• Newbridge, Ireland (solid-dose)
• Andover, Mass., U.S. (biotechnology)
• Sanford, N.C., U.S. (biotechnology)
• Havant, UK (biotechnology)
• Illertissen, Germany (solid-dose)

Pfizer’s solid-dose network will include plants in Freiburg , Germany; Amboise, France; Vega Baja and Barceloneta, Puerto Rico; Ascoli, Italy; Newbridge, Ireland; and Illertissen, Germany.

The biotechnology network will consist of sites in Grange Castle, Ireland; Strangnas, Sweden; Algete (Madrid), Spain; Havant, UK; and Andover, Mass. and Sanford, N.C., in the US. The consumer healthcare network will include plants in Guayama, Puerto Rico; Montreal, Canada; Albany, Ga., in the US; Aprilia, Italy; Hsinchu, Taiwan; and Suzhou, China

The merger with Wyeth made many manufacturing sites redundant and dispensible.

Until next time
 

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

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Last year, the first BioConference Live event was held. For those of you who may not have heard about BioConference Live, it is a free, online biotechnology and pharmaceutical event that features keynote speakers and live presentations, a lobby and even a virtual exhibit hall. The success of the inaugural meeting has prompted the conference promoters to organize a second BioConference Live event which will be held on June 2 & 3.

The June event will feature over 50 live keynote and seminar presentations and include topics such as cancer research, drug discovery, cell biology, genomics, proteomics, lab automation, bioinformatics, and infectious diseases. Some of the featured speakers include:David Wolf M.D. NASA Astronaut, Steven Burrill CEO of Burrill & Company, Kevin Hrusovsky, CEO of Caliper Life Sciences, and Paul Schoemaker, Ph.D. Chairman and CEO Decision Strategies International, Inc. To view the complete BioConference Live agenda click here. For a complete list of speakers click here

To learn more, and register for free, visit http://bioconferencelive.com/. If you register, attend, and recommend 3 friends, you can win an iPad.

I hope to see you (sort of) at the conference.

Until next time….

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

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I am off to Madison, WI to attend an award ceremony for Bob Deibel my former mentor who was largely responsible for unleashing me on the scientific world. If it wasn’t for Bob and my labmates, most notably Dave Sedlock, I wouldn’t be writing this blog today. It was Bob, an editor of Applied Microbiology during my time in his laboratory, who turned me onto writing and editing. Despite his blue collar and often times gruff exterior,

Bob was an extremely kind and generous man who possessed a keen business sense and outstanding writing and editing skills. He was the person who told me that the phrase “compared to” should actually read “compared with” in most cases (something I have never forgotten). It was the little things that Bob taught me that have served me well throughout my almost 30 year long scientific career. He is receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Food Research Institute for his long and prestigious career in food and applied microbiology. I attended Bob’s 80th birthday party six years ago in Sarasota and I am looking forward to the award ceremony tomorrow.

This will be my first visit to the University of Wisconsin in almost 20 years. I will see many old friends and classmates and undoubtedly drink a few beers and reminisce about the good old days. And while I experienced some of my darkest moments at UW, I also experienced my greatest thrills and achievements. Madison is a magical place and I hope that my return will live up to expectations!

Until next time…

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

Addendum: The Madison trip rocked...ran into old friends who I have seen in almost 30 years. Madison has changed a lot but the spirit of the city lives on and if you get a chance check out the microbrews Spotted Cow and Hopalicious!!!!!

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Melville, NY-based OSI Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the cancer drug Tarceva and arguably one of the most successful biotechnology companies in the New York metropolitan area, has finally agreed to be purchased by Japan’s Astellas Pharma.

Earlier this year, Astellas announced a hostile takeover bid for OSI. After a two month long battle, the OSI board agreed to sell the company to Astellas for $4.0 billion. According to the terms of the deal, OSI shareholders will receive $57.50 per share; a 55 per cent premium to the company’s share price in February. The price represents a 10.5 percent increase over Astellas’ original proposal of $52 per share.

Tarceva is OSI’s only product but sales last year reached about $1.2 billion. The drug has been approved to treat various cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (second line treatment) and first-line advanced pancreatic cancer. OSI has been trying to garner approval for Tarceva to treat other types of cancer in recent years. While sales of Tarceva have been growing annually, OSI’s new drug pipeline has been relatively thin.

OSI was founded in 1983 and is one of the oldest biotechnology companies in New York State. The company currently employs about 524 people. It is not clear what effect, if any, the acquisition may have on those jobs.

Astellas Pharma is Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company which has been on something of a buying spree to enhance its oncology portfolio and expand its US presence. Last year, Astellas lost a battle to acquire CV Therapeutics which was ultimately purchased by California-based Gilead Sciences for $1.4 billion.

Over the past few years Japanese pharmaceutical companies, flush with cash, have been aggressively pursuing American biotechnology companies with oncology expertise. Two years ago, Takeda Pharmaceuticals purchased Boston-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals for $8.8 billion to gain access to Velcade, its multiple myeloma drug and oncology drug pipeline.

The recent Japanese biotechnology buying spree is reminiscent of the Japanese real estate grab in the late 1980s which resulted in the sale of some of America’s iconic buildings including Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building. Ironically, those buildings are again owned by American companies and private equity groups! 

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!

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While most successful professionals want you to believe that they “fell into” their current jobs, the truth is that they wouldn’t have made it as far as they had without thinking or divining some type of strategic career plan. The trouble is that many early career professionals buy into this assertion—and rather than chart their own career trajectories—tend to gravitate toward jobs or job titles held by these seemingly successful professionals. 

More often than not, these would-be jobseekers have little or no understanding of what their “role models” do on a day-to-day basis as part of their job responsibilities. For example, many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who I talk with at career development symposia tell me that they want to go into business development or regulatory affairs or management consulting. After they tell me this, I routinely ask “Do you know what the director of business development or a regulatory affairs manager does?” Frequently, these persons have little or no idea about the duties and responsibilities associated with the job choice that they just enunciated to me. Generally speaking, many of these career choices were based on informal discussions with people who hold the job title(s) in question or from information gleaned from career development talks offered by people like me.

The point that I am trying to make, is that it is vitally important to know what the duties and responsibilities of a particular job are and what a prospective employer will likely expect from you on a day-to-day basis. While a job title may sound important or glamorous, the actual day-to-day activities and realities of the job may be tedious, mundane or simply boring. To avoid this possibility, it may be worthwhile to set up so-called “informational interviews” with professionals who are already in the job(s) that you may be considering.

While informational interviews are increasing in popularity, many professionals simply don’t have the time to accommodate the growing number of requests for them. To that end, BioCrowd, a networking site for bioprofessionals, recently created a weekly “Day in the Life” series that will showcase articles written by various life sciences professionals ranging from scientists to CEOs. The goal of these career vignettes is to educate students and would-be job seekers about the various career opportunities available in the life sciences and to provide some insights into what these professionals actually do on a day-to-day basis while on the job.

Please visit BioCrowd to learn more!

Until next time…

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

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Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceuticals announced today that it will slash almost 1,600 jobs or 28 per cent of its 5000 person US workforce. Most of the cuts will take place at the company’s North American headquarters (1400) in Deerfield, Illinois; the remainder (ca. 170) will occur at Takeda Global Research and Development Center in Lake Forest. These cuts represent a 20 per cent reduction in R&D employees at the site.

The layoffs, which are part of a restructuring of Takeda’s North American operations, are directly related to declining sales and the coming generic competition to its top-selling diabetes drug Actos. In addition to being Takeda's biggest revenue producer, Actos is the nation's top-selling brand name diabetes drug and was the 8th-best selling brand in 2009, generating $3.4 billion in U.S. sales, according to the most recent information available from market.

Despite rumors of job creation in other sectors of the US economy, pharmaceutical companies continue to shed jobs.

Until next time…

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

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While most life scientists that I know have Facebook pages and profiles on LinkedIn, many fewer don’t use Twitter. Perhaps more troubling, many life scientists who have heard of Twitter aren’t exactly sure what it is. For those of you who may have spent too much time in the laboratory for the past two years, Twitter is a microblogging platform (limit 140 characters) that is taking the social media community by storm. Analysts predict that Twitter may become larger and gain a greater market share than Facebook; but I digress.

Unlike most life scientists, many non-scientist types have tried Twitter and have almost immediately recognized its power and worth. It is extremely useful tool for information dissemination, exchange of ideas, branding, advertising, marketing and business development. The rapid uptake of Twitter by businesses and the lay public has led to the use of the platform to transact business and even to search for a new employment opportunities To that end, I recently received a post from Katina Solomon over at Online College.org. entitled “20 Simple Twitter Tips for Your Job Search.”

While some of the tips are very Twitter-specific, others are very useful when it comes to a job search like # 9 Toot your own horn (something scientists do poorly) or #5 Keep a copy of your resume online on the web or #19 Not broadcasting that you are unemployed.

Read and learn.

1. Use your real name: You use your real name when searching for a job, so make sure you do the same on Twitter. Set up your first and last name in your profile, and if you can, use your name as your Twitter username.
2. Tweet before you follow: Be sure to share useful content before you start following friends, colleagues, and industry professionals. This way, you'll give people a reason to follow you back.
3. Search for opportunities: Don't just expect an opportunity to fall into your lap — seek it out! Use Twitter's search to look for jobs in your niche.
4. Use a Hire Me! ribbon: Put a ribbon that advertises your desire for work, so even when you're not tweeting about your job search, followers know that you're looking.
5. Keep a web copy of your resume online: If you get in contact with someone who would like to see your resume, it's handy to have one that you can just send in a tweet. A tool like VisualCV comes in handy.
6. Follow your target companies: If the company or companies you'd really like to work for are on Twitter, follow them, and any employees that are on as well. You'll be able to connect better than before and stand out among candidates.
7. Share on multiple networks: Integrate Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn so that contacts on all networks hear your message. If you can, use tools that can push updates from one service to another.
8. Follow industry leaders: Follow the leaders in your industry to learn more about it and benefit from their network.
9. Toot your own horn: Put yourself in the Twitter stream by describing your specific skill set. Be descriptive — if your specialty is selling phone systems to food service companies in South Florida, say so!
10. Use hashtags: Find hashtags for upcoming conferences in your industry, hot topics, and more to become part of the conversation as well as identify people that you need to be following on Twitter.
11. Look for a job posting account: If there's a certain company or industry you'd like to work in, try to find specific Twitter accounts that offer updates on new job postings available.
12. Ask for help to close the deal: If friends or contacts work where you'd like to get a job, ask them for a recommendation to increase your likelihood of getting hired.
13. Give good karma: Don't blatantly self-promote. Take some time to retweet and interact with others.
14. Make your presence employer friendly: Use your bio as a job pitch, use a professional-looking avatar, and tweet about your job search. You can even link to your online resume.
15. Be worth following: Don't be rude or boring — share interesting and useful updates with your followers, and focus on interacting with them as well.
16. Always keep SEO in mind: Your Twitter profile and tweets are indexed by Google and other search engines, so any time you put information out there, think about how you can better make it found.
17. Retweet industry news: Pass on news and tweets that are important, and you're one step closer to being found.
18. Have a "Twitter pitch" ready: Much like the elevator speech, you need to be ready with a pitch you can deliver in 140 characters or less.
19. Don't tweet about unemployment: You don't want to come off as whiny-keep your complaints about unemployment to yourself.
20. Look for job search advice: Find posts from career gurus and other people who can help you find a job on Twitter.

I would be interested in talking with folks who have actually used Twitter to conduct a job search that ultimately led to a new job.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!!

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The Advanced Learning Institute will be hosting a conference entitle Social Media for Pharma on May 24 & 25, 2010 at the Hyatt Hotel in Princeton, NJ. Presenters include representatives from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, NovoNordisk, Daiichi Sankyo, Lundbeck, Porter Novelli, the National Organization for Rare Diseases and many others. 

Topics to be covered include:

• Developing a social media strategy that works for your organization
• Update on regulatory guidance for social media
• Managing on going regulatory challenges for social media
• Building a business case and demonstrating ROI for social media platforms
• Creating a stronger sense of community and brand recognition using social media
• Monitoring customer feedback and satisfaction
• Determine the right mix of social media for your organization
• Latest innovations in social media
• Using twitter to turn your employees into stakeholders into brand ambassadors

and much more!

An agenda for the meeting can be found here. Mention BioJobBlog or BioCrowd and get $200 off the registration fee. For more information please contact melissa@aliconferences.com

I hope to see you at the meeting…it ought to be a good one!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Tweeting, Blogging, Podcasting etc etc!!!!!

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Ashley over at pharmacytechniciancertification.net sent me a list of the so-called top 50 twitter feeds for pharmaceutical industry news.

While the list is a solid one, @BioJobBlog @eyeonfda and @pharmalot—three outstanding feeds-- were noticeably absent from it. Further, most of the feeds that made the list are managed by marketing and advertising professionals who either run consulting businesses or work for life sciences companies or healthcare agencies—not that there is anything wrong with that!

Nevertheless, the list is comprehensive, informative and covers everything you need to know to feed your pharma industry news habit.

Best Professional Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

These Twitter feeds are from those who make pharma their business.

1. Medicine Community : Also known as Drug Info, this group is based in Westlake Village, California. They are part of The People’s Medicine Community. Visit to share your drug related questions and stories anonymously in the free community. Links to answers are also featured.

2. FDA Drug Info : Get the latest headlines on pharmaceuticals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration here. Although the FDA has several Twitter accounts, this one is specifically for pharma. Information, recalls, and more are featured.

3. Pharma TV : PharmaTelevision is the online TV channel for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. It offers insights and features interviews with industry leaders. Latest tweets are often headlines of interest.

4. Pharma Twits : Twitter and pharma combine seamlessly here. Thoughts on the industry and more are given from an anonymous user. Items of interest are often featured.

5. Café Pharma : Based in Atlanta, this Twitter user takes a more informal approach. Headlines of interest, as well as links, are most commonly shared.

6. Pharma Deals : See the deals going on behind the scenes by stopping here. It is one of the world’s most comprehensive pharmaceutical and biotechnology deals databases. Acquisitions, mergers, and the like are tweeted on.

7. eDrugSearch : This Twitter feed is from a site of the same name aiming to run a comparison shopping network for prescription drug buyers. They also offer a social network. Visit regularly for drug news and money-saving tips.

8. Fierce Pharma : Based in Washington, D.C., there are over 50,000 subscribers to this site’s newsletter. Get the latest in rulings, recalls, and much more here. Tweets come several times a day.

Best Individual Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

The below guys and gals also have something to say about the pharmaceutical business.

9. Jon M. Rich : Stop here for the Twitter feed of a former pharma guy. Jonathan now preaches the digital world to every pharma and healthcare company that will listen. You can listen by giving him a follow.

10. Pharma Guy : John Mack is the author of a popular blog on pharma marketing. He is also a pundit, credit, and publisher of pharma news. John recently got an iPad and tells all about it.

11. Steve Woodruff : His focus is pharma along with marketing, eHealth, training, and more. He also tweets about things of interest in the New Jersey area.

12. Shwen Gwee : He is the founder of sites such as Social Health and Social Pharmer. He often tweets his own opinions on pharma. Shwen also replies to follower’s tweets.

13. Pharma Expert : Click here for the Twitter feed of someone who thinks “medicine is cool.” She is a drug expert- working in the pharmaceutical industry. Tweets are often links to items of interest.

14. Sarah Morgan : Visit for the Twitter account of an official PR director for a pharma company. Sarah is also a social media “opinionista, writer, and questioner.” She often takes the time to answer questions.

15. Nat Bourne : From Toronto, Nat is in the medical, pharma, and marketing business. She is also a work at home mom with a toddler and newborn. Tweets are both on professional and personal life.

16. Why Dot Pharma : Silja is from Switzerland. She believes pharma can create better patient-focus through social media. Tweets are occasionally in English and link to items she enjoys.

17. Wendy Blackburn : She is a blogger and digital marketer who is focused on pharma. Wendy is also the EVP for IntouchSol digital marketing agency. Visit to get retweets and links.

Best Science Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

The below Twitter accounts focus on the scientific side of pharma.

18. Pharma Biotech : Get all things in biology technology with a visit. Pharma is often the focus of tweets. Several posts a day include the latest headlines.

19. Richard G. Lanzara : He is a entrepreneurial scientist and pharmacologist. Interests include how our senses and receptors work, as well as what follows. Tweets center around science and the occasional retweet.

20. Eye for Pharma : The site exists to assist the pharma industry in creating real patient value, care, and service. It is an excellent choice for those employed inside the pharma industry. Tweets are often replies to followers.

21. Pharma Info : Stop here for pharma information, comments, and trends. Science often includes reading recommendations on both pharma and health.

22. Pharma Fraud News : Want to see the ugly side of pharma? Then stop here for the Twitter feed for whistleblowers. It focuses on a million dollar reward program for those willing to report fraud.

23. Fierce Biotech : Click for one of the largest and most active biotech news readership in the world. Written by Maureen Martino, the site contains the daily monitor of the biotech industry. Tweets often link to related items.

24.Center Watch : Visit to get a global source of news, directories, proprietary market research, and analysis for clinical trials professionals and patients. Pharma patients will especially enjoy this feed for letting them be part of the scientific solution.

Best Company Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

Get pharma news straight from the companies that produce the with these Twitter feeds.

25. Pfizer News : This is the news feed for one of the most well known pharma companies in the nation. They apply science and global resources to improve health and well-being at every stage of life. Jen Kokell, GMR, of the company is your host.

26. Novartis : They provide healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies worldwide. Tweets often focus on the latest pharma news. Links to full stories are also included.

27. Boehringer : This company is based in Ingelheim, Germany. You can get international tweets here, or you can also follow just the ones for the U.S. by clicking @boehringer US.

28. Access Pharma : Stop here for the Twitter feed of an emerging pharmaceuticals company. Their focus is on oncology and diabetes. Announcements are often featured on Twitter.

29. Astra Zeneca US : Get news for this pharma company’s business in the United States here. The biopharmaceutical company produces drugs such as Nexium and others. They generally link to items of interest.

30. Pharma Ventures : This company is a global corporate finance and transactions advisory firm. They specialize in deal making within the life science and healthcare sectors. Get the latest in deal news with a follow.

31. Amgen : This is a leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry. For more than 25 years, Amgen has tapped the power of scientific discovery and innovation to advance the practice of medicine. Announcements, links, and more are tweeted.

32. Pfizer : Unlike the above, this Twitter feed sticks mostly to tweets for employees. However, it is still a useful follow for those who want a behind the scenes look at pharma.

33. Bayer Health Care : This company is probably best known for its various types of aspirin. The company also combines the global activities of the divisions: animal health, Bayer Schering pharma, consumer care, and medical care. Updates and the occasional non-English tweet are featured.

34. Novartis Trials : Find out more about the pharma trials this company has available. Must follow to get unprotected tweets.

35. Vertex Pharma : Stop here for the official Twitter channel for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. Tweets are sparse, but the main site has loads more.

36. McNeil Recall : This pharma company focuses exclusively on product recalls. Lori Dilginoff, the PR rep and others, maintain this account.

Best Health Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

The below Twitter feeds focus on both health and pharma.

37. Phil Baumann : He is the founder of RN Chat. Also a blog author, he focuses on healthcare, technology, pharma, and hilarity. Retweets and answers are often featured.

38. Simple Heal : Stop here for the Twitter feed of an anonymous doctor. He believes clinical outcomes dictate the adoption of new medicine, the knowledge that could be critical to patient, doctor, researcher, investor, and regulator alike. Tweets often link to items of interest.

39. Sky Pen : This Twitter user is also known as Fabio Gratton. From California, he is the co-founder and CIO of Ignite Health. The company is passionate about health, digital, and social media. He often links to things that interest him.

40. Matthew Herper : Get the Twitter feed for this “Forbes” reporter with a click. He focuses on covering both science and medicine. Gene therapy, pharma, latest innovations, and more are discussed.

41. Safety Nurse : Barbara Olson is a nurse with an engineer’s mind. She tweets on sensitive items that strike her fancy. Recent tweets were on boxed warnings.

42. Drug Savings : Learn the science behind saving at pharma with a visit here. It is part of Canadian Online Pharmacies. You can also save up to 80% on your purchases.

43. L2 : This is the Twitter feed of a marketing think tank based in New York. Founded by Scott Galloway, they bring together academics and pharma industry leaders to create innovative formulas for marketing success. Links are often featured.

Other Best Twitter Feeds for Pharma News

These users don’t tweet exclusively about pharma but are still worth a look.

44. Alex DC : Also known as Alex de Carvalho, he is a social media strategist. However, he has worked in the pharma business and even presented at the EyeforPharma eMarketing Summit. He is also a teacher.

45. Laurie DesAutels : She is a headhunting professional based in Houston, TX. Laurie also decided to start her own company to follow her passion for sourcing and recruiting. See what she has to say about that and more by following her.

46. Martino Chiaviello : He is the Group Art Supervisor at Vertiyo Health in New York. Martino also is a web designer, entrepreneur, video game addict, and more. Lists include social media, design, and pharma.

47. CLIO Awards : The CLIO Awards is one of the world’s most recognized global awards competition for advertising, design, and interactive. It is also awarded to pharma companies, and you can see which by having a look.

48. Sally Church : Also known as Maverick NY, she is part of Icarus Consultants. They specialize in pharma, biotech, and other related areas. Visit to get retweets, opinions, and more.

49. Roche : This company is based in Switzerland. Their focus is to answer to medical challenges by combining strengths in pharma and diagnostics to work towards making personalized healthcare a reality.

50. Khunadd : Also known as Wannee W, this Twitter user focuses on health food, food chemistry, herbal medicine, and pharma. With thousands of followers and interesting headlines, it is worth a visit.

Please be sure to consult a physician before following any of the advice read on the above 50 best Twitter feeds for pharma news. Only he or she has examined you, knows your history, and the interactions any new drugs can have with existing ones.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!!!

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Those of us a certain age have all heard of the so-called new math—which by all accounts wasn’t much different than old math—that was suppose to revolutionize the way math was taught at the primary and secondary education levels. While new math may not have not have much different or better than old math from an academic perspective, pharmaceutical companies will have to reckon with the new math associated with the pricing of brand name prescription drugs if they want to remain competitive in the future.

According to statistics offered in a recent New York Times article on Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, generics now account for 75 per cent of the prescriptions filled in the United States. This figure is up 47 percent from a decade ago. Further, a recent study from IMS, the research firm that tracks prescription drug use, generic drugs saved the American healthcare system $734 billion between 1999 and 2008. These numbers, coupled with a paltry 25 per cent market share, suggest that brand name pharmaceutical companies must rethink the low volume, large margin pricing strategy that has guided big pharma for the past 50 years. 

As one Teva executive candidly put it, “If you are used to the fat margins of big pharma, it is hard to compete in the rough and tumble of price-cutting generics.” 

The push for wider adoption and use of generic pharmaceuticals and biologics (as compared with brand name drugs) suggests that there will likely be more belt-tightening at big pharma companies in the not-so-distant future.

Until next time..

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

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Eli Lilly and Co. announced last Thursday that it plans on cutting 200 sales and marketing support jobs in its U.S. biomedicine group. More than half of those cuts will take place in Indianapolis, the corporate headquarters of the company. The cuts are the latest wave of the drugmaker's previously announced plans to chop 5,500 jobs worldwide by the end of 2011. The layoffs will be the largest since Lilly eliminated 200 jobs from its research laboratories in March.

Big pharmaceutical companies have been laying off marketing and sales reps for the past three years or so in response to lack of newly approved drugs and anticipated revenue losses from blockbuster drugs that are nearing patent expiry. According to a recent survey conducted by SDI Health the number of pharmaceutical sales reps has shrunk to roughly 81,780 in last year’s third quarter from 101,818 in 2005: a nearly 20 per cent. Further a recent post on the Pharmalot blog revealed that “last year, the number of docs willing to see most reps fell nearly 20 percent, the number of prescribers refusing to see most reps increased by half and the number of management-planned sales calls that were nearly impossible to complete topped 8 million” according to ZS Associates, which monitored interactions involving 500,000 physicians nationwide.

Declining revenues from brand name prescription drugs combined with the changing attitudes of physicians to sales reps suggest that marketing and sales jobs in the pharmaceutical industry may become scare in the future. However, as the biotechnology continues to mature, the need for sales reps with backgrounds in molecular biology and protein-based drugs will continue to increase.

While most physicians are very familiar and comfortable with small molecule prescription drugs, their understanding and familiarity with biotechnology drugs is surprisingly deficient. This suggests that PhD-trained life scientists, who are outgoing and don’t have problems “selling”, may want to consider careers in biotechnology sales or marketing.

Until next time…

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

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Beleaguered orphan drug manufacturer Genzyme responded to Carl Icahn’s attempt to remove current board members through a proxy fight by issuing a statement announcing a $2.0 billion stock buyback program. Also, the company announced that it would sell or spin off its underperforming genetic testing, diagnostics and pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing divisions. Both initiatives were announced in an attempt to fend off Icahn’s current assault on the company.

Genzyme spokespersons stated that the company will repurchase $1.0 billion worth of stock in the near term and finance it with debt. An addition $1.0 billion of stock will be purchased over the next year, Genzyme said. While financial analyst believe that the announcement will please shareholders, it is unlikely to ward off the Icahn plan to wrest control of the company away from embattled CEO Henri Termeer.

Until next time..

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

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Carl Icahn, who controls about 4.9% of the outstanding shares of Genzyme’s stock, is trying to get himself and three persons loyal to him elected to the Genzyme board of directors via a proxy fight. 

Icahn has publicly stated that embattled Genzyme CEO, Henri Termeer must go after running the company for the past 25 years. Icahn contends that Termeer has made many bad decisions during his tenure and the recent highly publicized manufacturing problems at the company are causing Genzyme’s stock to plummet.

Icahn’s slate of proposed board members include himself, Dr. Richard C. Mulligan, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Alexander J. Denner an Icahn confidant and Dr. Stephen J. Burakoff, Director of the Tish Cancer Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. If elected the Icahn slate will replace Mr. Termeer, are Connie Mack III, a former United States senator; Richard F. Syron, the former chief executive of Freddie Mac and of Thermo Electron, a scientific instrument company; and Charles L. Cooney, a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As many of you may know, Icahn, who is always referred to as an “activist investor” is no stranger to proxy fights or controversy. Previously, he attempted to oust members of the Biogen-IDEC board of directors—an underperforming company according to Icahn—and more recently, publicly out-maneuvered and humiliated Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) CEO Jim Cornelius by selling ImClone—a long-time BMS co-marketing partner of the blockbuster colorectal cancer drug Erbitux— to Eli Lilly.

Over the years, I have been a staunch critic of Icahn. However, I am beginning to realize that there is a “method to his madness” and surprisingly, things always seem to change for the better at companies that are on his radar screen. Like him or not, Icahn demands performance from the companies that he invests in and will relentlessly work on behalf of himself and other shareholders to get the ROI that he expects.

Until next time,

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

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) announced Tuesday that its board authorized the repurchase of up to $3 billion of its common stock.

The company said the buyback program has no expiration date and will take place over the next few years. Company spokespersons said the decision reflects Bristol-Myers' strong financial position, which included $9.8 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of the first quarter.

While stock repurchase programs are common, BMS is steeling itself for the expected loss of substantial revenues beginning in 2011 due to patent expiry of its top selling anti-clotting medication Plavix. In the past year or so, the company has sold off a profitable medical device subsidiary (Convatec) and a consumer products company (Meade Johnson) to sure up its finances and improve stock share price. 

Long be rumored to be a takeover target, BMS has attempted to reinvent itself over the past few years as a “next generation biopharmaceutical company” through licensing agreements and acquisition of smaller biotechnology companies with promising technology platforms and near term new biotechnology products (Medarex). However, the loss of Imclone—the biotechnology company that developed the one of the top-selling colon cancer drugs called Erbitux—to rival drug maker Eli Lilly has significantly slowed the next generation initiative.

Stay tuned for all late-breaking events.

Until next time…

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

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In case you haven’t heard, the Business Development Institute is hosting its Second Annual Social Communications and Healthcare event next Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at the The Graduate Center of The City University of New York in midtown Manhattan, New York City. 

The meeting, which starts at 8:30 AM and continues until 1:00 PM, will consist of a serious of plenary talks followed by moderated round table discussions on a variety of social media and healthcare-related topics. Yours truly will be leading a roundtable discussion on non-promotional uses of social media in the life sciences industry.

Agenda

For more information, including registration, please click here to visit the event website. Or contact Steve Etzler at setzler@bdionline.com or 212-765-8045.

BioJobBlog readers can use promo code BC for a discounted rate of $155.

I hope to see you at next week's meeting!!!!

Until next time …

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!

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Ed Silverman who runs the Pharmalot Blog yesterday posted an article that reports the average salaries, employment rates and job opportunities for persons working in the life sciences industry. The figures reported in the post were gleaned from an industry -wide bi-annual report conducted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Battelle Institute.

Some of the report highlights:

1. Average annual wages in the U.S. biotech sector were tallied at $77,595, compared to the $45,229 average for total private sector employment
2. Total employment in the U.S. bioscience sector has exceeded 1.42 million, with another 6.5 million jobs indirectly supported by biotech.
3. The annual growth in the biotech was 1.4 percent during the first year of the recession, despite a decline in total private sector employment of 0.7 percent
4. Since 2001, more than 176,000 jobs have been added in the research, testing and medical lab sector, with total employment in the sector now topping 558,000
5. California leads the US in the total number of life sciences jobs with 221,096 followed by New Jersey with 88,854, Pennsylvania with 80,929, Massachusetts with 72,627, and Texas with 64,964

The report predicts an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent for the life sciences industry until 2018. While not great, the industry continues to grow while others like banking, financial services, business etc continue to decline.

Maybe a career in the life sciences industry isn’t a bad idea after all!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

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When I first learned about Darwin’s theory (sic) of natural selection many years ago it was an abstraction to me. This largely resulted from the way it was taught back then—mostly as a theory with no firm basis in reality (at least a reality that I could understand at the time). Finally, after taking a bacterial genetics course as an undergraduate microbiology major—and experiencing firsthand (in the laboratory) the selective pressures that result in the emergence of bacterial antibiotic resistance—Darwin’s theory became a crystal-clear, concept for me. With this in mind, the epidemic of multiple drug resistant strains of bacteria that resulted from the rampant overuse of antibiotics in medically settings and as feed additives over the past  is a great  Having said that, what do bacteria and weeds have to do with one another?

First, both grow rapidly. Second, if left unchecked, their growth can wreak havoc and cause substantial damage to humans. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, both are capable of mutating rapidly in response to selective pressures. To that end, there was an interesting article in today’s NY Times detailing the emergence of “Roundup” resistance species of weeds e.g. pigweed, in the US, Brazil and Asia.

For those of you not familiar with the Roundup story, about 20 years ago scientists at Monsanto discovered the gene (and its protein) that renders plants susceptible to the effects of glycophosate herbicides like Roundup. Recognizing an opportunity, Monsanto scientists genetically-altered the gene and introduced it into various seed crops including soybeans, corn and cotton. Plants grown from seeds that contain altered glycophosate genes are resistant to the herbicidal effect of Roundup.

This innovation allowed farmers for the past 20 years to spray millions of acres of Roundup-ready crops with glycophosate; killing the weeds while leaving the soybean, corn and cotton plants unharmed. Also, glycophosate is not toxic for humans and breaks down quickly; making it environmentally friendly and a cost effective treatment. Not surprisingly, the financial savings of RoundUp-ready crops caused sales to explode in the late 1990s shortly after the seeds were introduced. Today, Round Up-ready crops represent about 90% of the soybeans and 70% of the corn and cotton annually grown in the US.

Segueing back to antibiotics, shortly after the introduction of penicillin and streptomycin in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a small number of prescient microbiologists warned that indiscriminate use of these drugs would likely result in the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. This, in turn, would render these antibiotics therapeutically ineffective. While there was little laboratory evidence at the time to substantiate or refute these claims the predictions made by these scientists relied almost exclusively on Darwin’s immutable laws of natural selection.

Because the newly-discovered antibiotics were extremely effective and easy to use, the medical establishment, animal feed industry and the US Food and Drug Administration chose to ignore the warnings for over 30 years or more. Unfortunately this culminated in the ongoing pandemic of multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria that began in earnest in the mid 1990s.

Likewise, shortly after the introduction of RoundUp-ready seeds, some forward-thinking crop scientists suggested that it may only be a matter of time before RoundUp-resistant weeds would appear. Again, despite lessons learned from the overuse of antibiotics Monsanto officials quickly convinced farmers and US regulators that the emergence of RoundUp-resistant weeds was unlikely. According to the Times article, today, approximately 7 to 10 million acres of corn, soybean and cotton (out of about 170 million acres) are afflicted with RoundUp-resistant weeds. Like their antibiotic resistant bacterial cousins, RoundUp-resistant weeds are fast-growers, hardy and require a combination of toxic and environmentally damaging herbicides to eradicate. While Monsanto is trying to downplay the significance of the appearance of RoundUp-resistant weeds, the company has taken an unprecedented and extraordinary move by subsidizing cotton farmers’ purchases of competing herbicides to kill the resistant weeds.

Despite assertions to the contrary, it is hard for me to believe that Monsanto scientists excluded the likelihood that RoundUp-resistant weeds would eventually appear. To that end, Monsanto and other companies have already developed genetically-engineered crops that are resistant to other herbicides. This, coupled with the financial subsidies to purchase competitor’s herbicides suggests that RoundUp-resistant weeds may be more prevalent than reported and that American farmers may only be experiencing the veritable “tip of the iceberg.”  To learn where RoundUp is no longer effective in controlling weed growth in the US, please click here.

Similar to many of the recommendations designed to reduce the incidence of multiple drug resistant bacteria, crop scientists are urging farmers to use more than one herbicide to eradicate Round-Up resistant weeds. This recommendation prompted one cotton farmer to quip “If we have to add another product with the RoundUp to kill weeds. Why are we buying and planting RoundUp-ready products?” Good question!

I think the emergence of RoundUp-resistant weeds is another example of companies placing profits before good science and rationale thinking. In the case of RoundUp resistance weeds it was never a question of “if” but when! I think even a rocket scientist would have known that!

I gotta give it up for Darwin; he was one smart and insightful dude!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Do Good Science!!!!!!!

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Because I subscribe to transparency, full disclosure and the notion that most stories have two sides, I felt that it was only appropriate to post a comment sent to me by a an ardent Donna Roberts supporter who believes that she and her ring of dog-grifting associates are innocent and have been unduly harmed and wronged by my blog posts.  

From: notifications@lexblog.com <notifications@lexblog.com>
Subject: [Bio Job Blog] New Comment Posted to 'Donna Roberts Responds: I am Innocent of All Charges--The Rest of the World is Guilty'
To: cmintz@bioinsights.com
Date: Monday, May 3, 2010, 1:40 PM

An unapproved comment has been posted on your blog Bio Job Blog, for entry
#267937 (Donna Roberts Responds: I am Innocent of All Charges--The Rest of
the World is Guilty). You need to approve this comment before it will
appear on your site.

IP Address: 68.39.22.204
Name: Edward
Email Address: njlaw4u@yahoo.com
URL:
Comments:

Mr. Mintz,
   I have read all your posts and I have read all the comments posted.    I
have yet to read Mrs. Roberts threaten you, she is just trying to correct
the lies you have been spreading about her and her family.  She is a mother
protecting her children and grandchildren. It is you sir that has
threatened them and have exposed the children of this family to possible
harm by posting addresses.  Several sex offenders live in their area and
you just pointed out targets for them, shame on you.  If you have a problem
with Donna Roberts then attack Donna Roberts do not involve innocent
children.  If you had a problem with Dawn Abrams then take her to court, if
she sold you sick dogs that would be the legal thing to do but she didn't
sell you sick dogs and she didn't jump when you threatened her so you are
mad.  Mr. Mintz call it what you want, harassing this family will only end
you up in court.  This family has endured everything you have thrown at
them, every agency you have called on them and every person you have
poisoned by your blog.    I say it's enough, you are not going to stop this
family from having their dogs and rightfully so. This is America, home of
the FREE.  They are not hurting anyone, all the pups are sold with the
backing of the NJ Lemon Law for Animals and in my opinion, knowing that
their every move is being watched and monitored by you this would be the
safest place to buy a puppy from because God Forbid they sell any pup with
a problem, you would have it all over. So I am sure they are being extra
careful. I also did some checking, Mrs. Roberts is truthful.  No complaints
have been lodged against any of her children or her grandchildren. I called
the Burlington Consumer Affairs Dept and they have no complaints for any of
them except for Donna Roberts made by Barbara Harra and Laurie Pallantee in
2007. That was 3 years ago and nothing since, does that sould like a
horrible puppymill breeder. My God Man, LET IT GO !!!!!!

BioJobBlogger Response:  I won't let it go because of all of  the dogs Donna and her gang have harmed or mistreated and the pain that they have wrought on innocent and unsuspecting persons who simply wanted to buy a healthy and loving pet!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Dog Grifter Hunting!!!!!!!!

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As many of you know, I have had an ongoing dispute with a nefarious dog grifter (Donna Roberts) and her daughter (Dawn aka Grace Abrams) for the past two years. While my direct dealings with these odious people have ceased, I frequently get messages from others, who, like me, were unwittingly scammed by Donna and her spawn after purchasing puppies and dogs from them.

Invariably, every time I post a new story about Donna et al, I receive repeated vitriolic and threatening rants from Donna and her cronies. I typically add them as comments to the related stories posted to BioJobBlog. However, from time to time, I like to reveal some of her comments so that others can get an impression of the person who I and others like me are dealing with.

Finally, FYI Donna, the word slander is used for spoken word misattributions and potential damage. I believe the word that you ought to use when referring to my posts is libel which is reserved for alleged damage that may result from the “written word”

An unapproved comment has been posted on your blog Bio Job Blog, for entry
#263325 (Dawn Abrams and Donna Roberts Continue to Scam Would Be Dog
Owners). You need to approve this comment before it will appear on your
site.

IP Address: 68.39.22.204
Name: Donna Roberts
Email Address: shadyoakhavs@yahoo.com
URL:
Comments:

“This is a riot.  I have not bred a litter of pups since 2007 and all your
observers are claiming to buy a dog from me, claiming my house stinks,
claiming dogs had hookworms (puppies are wormed with Drontal 5 times before
sold and hookworms are very easy to get rid of) Mr. Mintz you have never
been to my house. No names have changed, we all have our real names, it's
just your continuous slander and lies Mr. Mintz. Should I write everything
out for you, so you can get it right.  The children he is talking about are
my grandchildren, there are 7, ages 16 to 5. My daughter married a farmer,
a very hardworking, honest man. The house Mr. Mintz calls a rundown farm
house was built in 1897 and for it's age it is not very rundown. My
daughter keeps it neat and clean as far as someone can with 7 kids. All 3
of my daughters do not have one complaint against them and I have had very
few for my dog breeding hobby of 42 years. In 2007 I ran into a few people
who falsely accused me of selling sick pups, which was not the case at all,
yes the pups had a parasite but not one vet issued an UNFIT FOR PURCHASE
within the 14 days allowed by law. The two women involved, Barbara Harra
and Laurie Pallantee took it to the extreme but in the end I was found
innocent of all charges.  I would never sell a sick pup. As far as my dogs
go I have 4 dogs left, 2 males and 2 females that have not produced
anything in the last 2 years.  So Mr. Mintz your claim of a puppymill is so
bogus. We are a family that loves animals and we live a very full life and
it is so sad that you Mr. Mintz are such an unhappy person that the only
thng you have to get your Jolly's off is slandering us.”

Please continue to spread the word about these unsavory characters.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Puppy Seeking!!!!!

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There is no doubt that it is becoming increasingly difficult for persons with PhD degrees in the life sciences to pursue traditional career paths. To that end, Anne Miller of OnlineDegree.net sent me a link to a post that offers some interesting career options that might be of interest to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows training in the life sciences. While not for everyone, some of these jobs are tangentially related to the life sciences and may be worth considering if your current job search isn’t panning out.

The jobs with asterisks connote those where a scientific background may be beneficial.

1. MMO Gold Farmer : Gold farming has little to do with gold mining, as the workers are actually responsible for sitting at a computer for hours on end playing World of Warcraft and other massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) in order to amass a large amount of in-game currency to sell for the real thing.

2. Animal Insemination* : Artificially inseminating livestock is a necessary job if one wants a healthy food supply, but few will deny that it is an extremely unusual line of work.

3. Chicken Sexer* : The idea of a chicken sexer likely brings up a series of giggles and blushes, but in actuality involves deciphering the genitalia of newly-hatched birds and inventorying how many males and females crop up in the bunch.

4. Odor Judge : With strong stomachs and a much stronger olfactory system, odor judges do exactly what their job title implies. Sometimes they even have to jam their nose into a participant’s armpit to see how well their deodorant works.

5. Garbage Bin Archivist : A step up from dumpster diving, some people make money off scouring files and archives retrieved from filthy garbage bins for legal reasons.

6. Fish Liver Sorter* : They sort fish livers. Actually, the job description also entails slicing the organs out before organizing them as well as discarding any that appear sick or spoiled.

7. Organ Procurers* : Organ procurers work for organ banks, helping to seek out donors and transplants for those in need of a new kidney, liver, or other body part.

8. Vomit Collector : Some theme parks employ cleaners specifically designated to mop up puke near rides that tend to inspire motion sickness.

9. Pet Food Taster : Most people would jump at the chance to taste-test chocolate, booze, or ice cream or other snack, but it takes a special stomach, palate, and probably mind to want to nosh on gourmet dog and cat food.

10. Gumologist : Food chemist Jessee Keifer of Cadbury Schweppes is one of the only people in the world paid to develop the perfect stick of chewing gum.

11. Dice Inspector : A dice inspector’s job involves inspecting the little cubes for any flaws that may give an unfair advantage or disadvantage when gambling.

12. Fake Review Writer* : Unethical? Yup. But a weird job is still a weird job, and this one involves professionally writing fake business reviews – positive and negative alike – for consumer-driven sites like Yelp, Citysearch, and Urbanspoon in order to artificially bolster ratings and verbally slam the competition.

13. Gross Stunt Tester : Nobody would eat worms on television for money if the network feared a lawsuit. Before chomping down on a cockroach, though, gross stunt testers and chefs have to whip up the night’s challenge and make sure it is safe enough to stave off litigation.

14. Hand Model : Some models make their money off the runway, appearing in television commercials, print ads, and as movie and show stand-ins without ever even having to flaunt more than a pair of pretty phalanges. There is an entire industry built around feet as well.

15. Citrus Fruit Dryer : All fruits need washing before being shipped off restaurants and grocery stores, and somebody has to be around to towel them off.

16. Furniture Tester : One of the cushiest jobs possible, furniture testers get paid to sit and lounge about on chairs, couches, beds, and other elements of home décor to help manufacturers gauge their safety and comfort.

17. Pet Detective : Real pet detectives help scared owners find their beloved animal companions. Generally, they don’t go chasing after missing dolphins.

18. IMAX Screen Cleaner : Because without the dedicated work of these brave men and women, nobody would ever be able to see the Great Barrier Reef or Mount Everest as the filmmaker intended.

19. Crocodile Wrangler *: One of the most dangerous jobs anyone could have involves wrestling crocodiles, alligators, and other aggressive animals. A simultaneously awesome and insane line of work.

20. Light Bender : Both dangerous and creative, light benders work in extreme heat to bring people flashing neon signs for businesses and home décor (in some circles).

21. Hoof Trimmer* : Cows and horses need their hooves trimmed for their own safety and comfort – really not much different than a dog or cat owner clipping the nails of their pets.

22. Wrinkle Chaser : Anyone who buys a pair of shoes has to send a bit of thanks to wrinkle chasers, who wield their irons with the intent of keeping them smooth and attractive.

23. Worm Picker* : With lighted miner’s helmets and aluminum cans at the reader, professional worm pickers snatch up their wiggly prey from the ground and sell them to local anglers for bait.

24. Ski Resort Illustrator : Glamorous when compared to many others on the list, ski resort illustrators apply their creative talents to…um…what was it again?

25. Fart Sniffer : People actually get paid to smell gas given off by cows in order to determine their diet, hormonal balance, and overall health. There are no words.

26. Pathoecologist* : Oh sure, telling someone you’re a “pathoecologist” at a cocktail party probably sounds all impressive. But have fun watching their expressions plummet when explaining that it involves dissecting and analyzing fossilized feces for a living.

27. Golf Ball Diver : Experienced deep-sea divers sometimes take on second careers applying their talents to retrieving golf balls from the murky depths of lakes.

28. Professional Sleeper* : As amazing as sleeping for money sounds, it also serves an excellent medical purpose. Professional sleepers help scientists and doctors figure out the mysteries of insomnia and other disorders.

29. Livestock Masturbator* : Similar to the animal inseminator, individuals who masturbate cows and other barnyard animals in order to acquire the body fluids necessary for conception play an integral role in the food supply.

30. Ocularist : These specialists create custom false eyes for individuals in need of one following an accident or degenerative disease.

31. Oyster Floater* : Before finding their way to consumers, oysters need to be floated in specially attuned water in order to remove any impurities.

32. Ostrich Babysitter* : Some kibbutz workers pass their days keeping an eye on ostriches to make sure they do not wander off, get into fights, or end up stolen.

33. Gum Buster : Littering is bad and all that, but if nothing else it at least means that cities and sanitation businesses create jobs specifically for cleaning gum and gum stains off the street.

34. Snake Milker* : Chuck Norris is so 2007. Snake milkers are the real tough guys, farming venom from the poisonous, slithering reptiles to help cure people of their bites.

35. Fortune Cookie Writer : Most little blips on the fortune cookies served at Asian restaurants comes not from some wise ancient sage, but rather a man at a desk being paid to crank them out.

36. Paper Towel Sniffer : A paper towel sniffer is responsible for letting manufacturers know if their products harbor any unusual smells before, during, and after use.

37. Lipsologist : Like a cross between a handwriting and palm analyst and a fingerprint archivist, a lipsologist claims to be able to read and identify a person’s personality based on their unique lip prints.

38. Neck Skewer : In spite of sounding like a line of work disconcertingly attractive to Leatherface, neck skewers actually pin the neck meat of beef halves to keep things more compact for transport.

39. Potato Chip Inspector : This delightful job entails looking through a conveyor belt full of potato chips for burned or unappetizing specimens.

40. Safe Cracker : A couple notches below James Bond exists safe crackers, who have to bust open locked boxes using their ears and fingers as tools.

41. Knife-Thrower’s Assistant : There is no way that any insurance company would offer a policy to someone who lets people throw knives at them for a living – but it probably makes for some great stories all the same.

42. Smoke Jumper : Smoke jumpers are extensively trained professionals sent into devastating wildfires on mountains, in brush, and other wide expanses to keep the environment and humanity safe from as much harm as possible.

43. Citrus Fruit Dyer* : No relation to the citrus fruit dryer, the citrus fruit dyers pop bright colors onto lemons, limes, grapefruits, kumquats, and other delights to make them seem more appealing to consumers.

44. Stand-In Bridesmaid : Eerily obsessive brides scouring over every single petty detail of their weddings and under the impression that the day would be absolutely ruined without a certain number of attendants (spoiler alert: it won’t) can actually pay women to stand in the ceremony to fill out the ranks.

45. Professional Whistler : Professional whistlers lend their talents to television shows, movies, commercials, and other media to add delightful music to their listeners’ days.

46. Turd Burner : Everyone who’s anyone loves fire, but not everyone is cut out to maintain equipment that burns human waste for a living.

47. Hair Boiler : Animal hair gets poured into giant vats of boiling water in order to make it curl up – and somebody has to stir it. Why does that sound eerily like the opening scene of Macbeth?

48. Phone Cord Sorter : Phone cord sorters (who, thanks to the advent of cell phones, are a rare breed these days) have to root through piles upon piles of the electronic components to weed out any that appear damaged or frayed.

49. Condom Tester : Before any boys in the audience drop out of school to pursue this career path, be forewarned that it actually involves stretching the prophylactics over a machine to test their strength and durability.

50. Cheese Sprayer : The powdered cheddar (or reasonable facsimile) on popcorn and other wonderfully salty, greasy snacks that wreak havoc on the heart and waistline has to get there somehow.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try it you may like it)!!!!!!!

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