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The past couple of weeks have been awful for employees at AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline after both companies announced massive worldwide layoffs. Interestingly, the downsizing that has taken place at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in recent years has escaped notice; mainly because media attention has been focused on the sale of two of its non-pharmaceutical divisions, Convatec and Mead Johnson. The sale of these two divisions brought in roughly $8.0 billion giving BMS one of the largest cash reserves among major pharmaceutical companies. 

BMS announced two years ago that is would cut its global work force by 10 percent by 2011. Layoffs and cost cutting measures at BMS have been mainly driven by the impending patent expiry of the blockbuster anti-clotting agent Plavix and several other drugs. Plavix reportedly accounts for a disproportionate amount of the company’s annual sale revenues. Despite its new found largess, the company continues to eliminate jobs and shed employees. To make matters worse, BMS confirmed today (as reported on both Pharmalot and the WSJ Health Blog) that it will eliminate pay raises in 2010 for the people who still have jobs at the company. Luckily, bonuses were not eliminated. But as most people who work at big companies will tell you, bonuses are not guaranteed and discretionary. Check out the 2008 total compensation packages (salary, stock options, stock awards, pension etc).

While I don’t profess to have the credentials to be the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, it doesn’t make sense to me to freeze the salaries of employees who are already overly anxious about whether or not they will have jobs when the next round of layoffs take place. Isn’t morale already bad enough?  Does management think employees will be at the top of their games and willing to work hard if they are constantly worrying whether or not tomorrow may be their last day of work?  Of course, naysayers will say that BMS employees should suck it up because they at least have jobs. However, I contend that management ought to invest a portion of the $8.0 billion in its employees rather then use it to buy several more companies to convince Wall Street analysts that BMS is truly a “next generation biopharmaceutical company.”  After all, employees are any company’s most valuable asset!

Until next time....

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

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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company today announced it plans on slashing 4,000 jobs over the coming months. The bulk of the cuts will be in America and Europe, and are part of the company’s efforts to shift resources away from low-growth territories into parts of the world with greater scope to expand sales, most notably Asia. GSK’s currently employs 99,000 workers worldwide. The reduction in headcount will be combined with a drive to make the company’s research and development more cost-efficient. 

While the job losses will not be as severe as those announced last week by its rival Astra Zeneca, they will provide further depressing news for a sector that is fighting to contain costs as it reduces its reliance on big-selling blockbuster drugs, many of whose patents will expire in the next two to three years.

The pipeline of new drugs at GSK is much deeper than at many of its rivals, say industry analysts. The company’s roster of planned launches includes Menhibrix, a vaccine to combat meningitis, and Benlysta (belimumab), a novel, monoclonal antibody treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus that it is co-developing with Maryland-based, Human Genome Sciences. In total, the group has more than 30 products in the advanced stages of development and testing.

While GSK continues to develop new drugs, it has increasingly been turning to emerging markets to find and sustain corporate growth. This has meant that thousands of jobs have already been sacrificed in the West, although the company is adding staff elsewhere. For example, it recently cut 2,000 sales jobs in America but added 1,500 staff in China. Also, GSK’s vaccine division has suffered a few regulatory setbacks with its pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix and its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix. The loss of market share in these areas has put additional financial pressure on the company.

Like many of its competitors, GSK is looking to other divisions of the company to cover projected losses in the pharmaceutical sector. Recently, GSK has shifted a lot of its attention to its consumer products division, which owns brands such as Lucozade and Ribena soft drinks, Aquafresh and Sensodyne toothpaste, and over-the-counter medicines such as Panadol painkillers and Alli, a weight-loss pill. Analysts predict the division will have raised its annual sales 18% to £4.7 billion. A deal signed last year to increase sales of Lucozade in China has provided the blueprint for how the company would like to develop the consumer healthcare side of its business.

Similarly, last week, Sanofi-Aventis, a French rival, announced a joint venture with Minsheng Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese company, to sell vitamin pills and nutritional supplements. Also, Pfizer recently announced it would bid for the possibility of purchasing the financially-troubled German generics manufacturer Ratiopharm; signaling the possibility that the world's largest branded pharmaceutical manager may be toying with the idea of getting into the generics business.

Late last year I predicted that more pharmaceutical company employees would loss their jobs. Sadly, this prediction has come true. That said, I am surprised at the scope and size of the layoffs that have already taken place in 2010. I suspect that more layoffs are likely in the near future if the economy doesn’t turn around anytime soon.

Hat tip to Ed at the Pharmalot blog!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try medical devices or biotech)!!!!!!!!

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AstraZeneca PLC said today it , or 12 percent of its work force, by 2014 to cut costs as it reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings. The job cuts will be made across all regions and divisions and were necessary because some of the company’s major products including the child asthma medication Pulmicort, which made sales of $1.3 billion in 2009, and breast cancer treatment Arimidex, with $1.92 billion in sales will be losing patent protection in the near future.

CEO David Brennan said the company was extending a cost-cutting program it launched in 2007, which had saved the company $1.6 billion annually at the end of 2009.Extending the program out to 2014 will cost another $2 billion, with expected benefits of $1.9 billion a year by 2014, he said.

Around 12,600 jobs having already been eliminated under the program, although Brennan suggested that the net figure was closer to 4,600 after new roles were created by the company, which employs around 63,000 people worldwide.

The new round of cuts will be global, including sales and marketing, business infrastructure, research and development and the supply chain. The company’s research & development division will lose about 1,800 jobs and according to Brennan there may be some closures of research and development sites or facilities as part of the restructuring. The company is reported to be waiting for regulatory approval of five new products.

Despite claims that the US economy is improving, big pharma continues to downsize its R&D workforce. Call me crazy, but aren’t these the same companies that argue that healthcare reform will stifle innovation and hinder new drug discovery? This begs the question: how do you discover new and novel medicines and treatments if the people who discover and develop drugs no longer work at your company? There is always outsourcing and M&A I suppose.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

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I think the economy must be improving because I am beginning to receive e-mail blasts from big pharma companies like Roche and AstraZeneca that they are hiring again (Please see the e-mail message below).  This may be a good sign for R&D scientists who have been struggling to find gainful employment.

In the spirit of full disclosure I have never worked nor am I am employed by AstraZeneca and I am not being compensated for this advertisement. I am simply a nice guy trying to help out my fellow scientists (hmm, I recall hearing something about nice guys.....)  However, I must warn you that just because companies advertise that they are hiring doesn't always mean that they really are.  Please keep that in mind when you apply for positions that AZ is advertising.

New R&D career opportunities at AstraZeneca. At AstraZeneca, your research and development experience can make a world of difference. That's because you'll be a part of a leading global pharmaceutical company with one of the most influential portfolios of innovative pharmaceutical brands. We continuously challenge, discover and develop new medicines in order to improve the quality of people's lives. It's an ongoing quest that involves the talent, ideas and growth of all our professionals, as we strive to advance the future of healthcare. Today, we're seeking qualified candidates to join our passionate culture in our Research and Development area. It's your opportunity to utilize your expertise for a greater purpose, while you're supported every step of the way. We encourage knowledge, respect growth and believe that there's always more to learn. It's one of the reasons why you'll become colleagues with some of the most talented and experienced professionals in the industry. As part of the Monster research and development professionals network, we invite you to learn more and apply for one of our research and development opportunities today. Sincerely, The AstraZeneca Human Resources team Learn More & Apply If you would like to stay current on AstraZeneca, you can sign up to receive more information here: www.IWantToAdvanceMyCareer.com AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer.

Good Luck!!!!!

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The New York Times reported today that AstraZeneca has agreed to pay $520 million to settle two federal investigations and two whistle blower lawsuits over the sale, marketing and off-label promotion of its blockbuster antipsychotic drug Seroquel. Despite this settlement, UK-based AstraZeneca still must contend with 14,444 civil lawsuits filed by many patients who developed diabetes and other health related conditions because of misleading marketing that failed to adequately disclose that the drug caused abnormal weight gain.                     

AstraZeneca joins a growing list of pharmaceutical companies that have been penalized for off label promotion and misleading advertising. Earlier this year Eli Lilly & Co paid $1.4 billion over its marketing of another antipsychotic drug Zyprexa and Pfizer announced that it would pay $2.3 billion including a record-breaking criminal fine of $1.195 billion mostly for its painkiller Bextra which was withdrawn from the market.

Despite the size of the fines and settlement figures for these recent cases, they are a drop in the bucket when compared with the amount of money generated by illicit marketing and advertising. For example, the $520 million that AstraZeneca has agreed to pay to settle the Seroquel case pales in comparison to the $17 billion that the drug has generated in US sales since 2004. The same was true for Zyprexa and Bextra.

While these settlements cannot repair much of the damage that has been done to unknowing patients, it signals that the US government is beginning to live up to its pledge to provide safe and efficacious medicines to the American public.

Until next time...

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

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The Pharmalot Blog reported today that AstraZeneca offered all of it sales representatives—numbering 5,000-6,000—a buyout option. However, AstraZeneca prefers to avoid the term buyout and instead instructed its reps to ’self identify’ whether or not they want a package to leave the company. According to the post, an AstraZeneca spokesman declined to discuss how many reps it would like to shed, but did provide this statement:

“AstraZeneca is making changes to our sales force, which will be managed first by looking at vacancies and offering field sales employees the opportunity to self-identify whether they are interested in leaving the company. We will know the full scope of the changes in the coming weeks.”

Like many other pharma companies, AstraZeneca will lose $11.1 billion in patented-protected revenue by the end of 2012 and face stiff generic competition.

Pharma sales reps, like R&D scientists, have been facing tough times over the past three years or so. In the late 1990s, pharma companies hired massive numbers of reps, only to realize several years later, that increasing the number of reps didn’t necessarily translate into increase drug sales. The economic downturn, coupled with projected loss of revenues due to patent expiry of blockbuster drugs over the next few years, provided pharma with an opportunity to downsize. Finally, the growing use of web-based strategies to educate physicians, contract sales forces and a diminishing number of products led to the demise of the pharma rep as we know it.

My recommendation to downsized reps is to get some biotechnology training or device/diagnostic training and to try and leverage previous experience into sales jobs at biotechnology and devices companies. Both industries have enormous growth potential and the transition from pharma to them shouldn’t be all that onerous.

Until next time...

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

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Mark Sendak, author of the incisive EyeonFDA blog and social media enthusiast, has been keeping a watchful eye (pun intended) on the growing number of pharmaceutical companies that are adding channels and videos to YouTube. 

On his blog today, Mark reviews several new channels developed by Novartis, Johnson and Johnson, Teva, Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. While a growing number of pharmaceutical companies continue to add new channels on YouTube, Mark contends that the “success of these channels has varied greatly and several companies have obviously developed the channels without any idea of what they would like to do with them and some of the channels show obvious signs of neglect.”

To learn more about pharma’s incursion on YouTube, read Mark’s post!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Video Watching

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Twitter, which is currently de rigueur in social media circles, is emerging as one of the most powerful branding and marketing social media tool that has been developed to date.   While other industries are already exploiting Twitter’s powerful marketing reach (to hawk their wares), drug makers have been reluctant to adopt Twitter and most other forms of social media. Industry analysts and company insiders contend that pharma’s reluctance to adopt social media can be attributed to the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) lack of guidance on its use for promotional purposes. At present, it is anybody’s guess when this guidance may be issued, if ever.

Nevertheless, as always, there are a few daring companies willing to “boldly go where no pharma company has gone before”—in this case—Twitter! These companies include Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), Astra Zeneca, Novartis and Pfizer. According to a post on the Advance Market WoRx blog, BI is leading the way among pharma company Twitterers, with 679 following, 745 followers and 47 tweets. AstraZenecaUS has 136 following, 440 followers and 22 tweets. Pfizer has 351 following, 462 followers and 48 tweets.  Novartis has 0 following, 681 followers and 40 tweets (I guess Novartis has a thing” against following people).

Unlike its fellow pharma Twitters, BI—which began using Twitter in November 2008—actually uses it as an interactive and conversational microblogging platform (as it was intended). The other pharma company Twitters use it almost exclusively “as a one-way PR feed” says Ellen Hoenig Carlson at Advance Market WoRx. According to a post on the Pharmafocus website, "Boehringer has incorporated Twitter into its wider communications strategy and is using the site regularly to engage its stakeholders. In addition to posting press releases, BI uses Twitter to recommend web-based information about therapeutic areas and articles that its followers might find interesting or useful. To keep its finger on the pulse of the Twitterverse, BI uses media scanning programs to help monitor online conversations and responds quickly to join in or start up Twitter conversations.”

Kudos to Boehringer for recognizing Twitter’s potential to communicate with patients, physicians and other interested parties. I hope that more pharmaceutical companies begin to use Twitter and other forms of social media to engage and improve communications with their stakeholders.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Twittering (or should it be Tweeting?) 

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